


Screw You

by YumKiwiDelicious



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Luschek being a nervous wreck, Nicky being Nicky, Open Relationships, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2018-06-09 09:05:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6899740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YumKiwiDelicious/pseuds/YumKiwiDelicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Shhh,” she soothed, turning him slowly so they were face to face, her left hand officially cupping him through his slacks. “Come on, Luschek,” she murmured into his ear, “Lemme scratch your back for ya.”</p><p>Nicky and Luschek bang out some frustrations together and it drags them into something they never expected</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Scratch Your Back For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You kiddin' me with this?” Nicky asked, squinting at the broad man that had just nearly fucked her straight into the wood of the desk, “We just bang it out like animals and now you're-”
> 
> “Am I gonna have to give you a shot?”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, bitch 'n ass.”

No one that knew Nicole Nichols would ever dare to say she was a woman of few words. Her own mother didn't know her that well and even she wouldn't say something like that. But when you're an inmate running two minutes late for lights out with the smell of fresh pussy on your breath, there wasn't much you could say. Nicky was walking and walking fast, trying to keep to the relative shadows of the hallways on the prayer she wouldn't get caught and taken to SHU. The walk from the Spanish Harlem bathrooms to the dorms had never seemed so long.

She was rounding a corner, still muttering curses behind her curtain of wild hair when she ran head-first into a soft yet unyielding wall. She back tracked, an excuse already poised on her smirking lips when the uniform clad body turned to her. She huffed a sigh of relief, tendrils of hair dancing around her face.

“Oh,” she scoffed, “It's just you, Luschek. Was afraid it might be someone actually interested in doing their job.” She moved to step around him but he blocked her, face annoyed.

“Well, if it isn't my favorite employee,” the bearded man greeted, head dipped down to address her shorter frame, “What're you doing out passed curfew, inmate?”

“Just got a little tied up, you know how it goes.” She went to side step him again only to be blocked again.

“Not sure I do.” His arrogant tone had Nicky rolling her eyes in exasperation. He frowned at her, crossing his arms in a mockery of her own stance. “May need to write you up.”

“Ah come on, man, the dorms are right through that door,” she motioned behind him, brows furrowed at having been caught so close to a clean escape. She made a mental note to start wearing a watch on night time sexcapades from then on, feeling the sweet release of orgasm was not worth dealing with the wrath of Litchfield staff.

“Actions have consequences,” he stated, looking entirely too amused as he pulled out his pad to give her a shot and no doubt a write up to Caputo. Nicky groaned deep down in her throat, cursing the hot piece of ass that had lead her into temptation and therefore into the SHU. Her fingers racked her hair, fisting at the tangles as she glared at the large man before her.

“This is bullshit,” she grumbled lowly. Luschek's head popped up, anger in his eyes.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“You better watch yourself, inmate.”

“I didn't say anything!” she insisted irately, arms now out at her sides. “Just gimme the damn shot so I can get to bed.”

When she tried to step passed the corrections officer this time, she found herself slammed back into the wall with physical force. Her head immediately snapped to either side, only to recall it was lights out so the halls were empty. No one there to witness him harassing her which Nicky found to be just so typical of Litchfield Penitentiary.  
Turning back to glare up into his eyes she was almost surprised by the amount of anger there. Joel Luschek was usually very laid back; a slacker some may even say. He and Nicky dicked around on a day-to-day basis, and she could honestly say seeing him was her favorite part of work detail. That he was getting so bent out of shape over catching her out of bounds was really out of the ordinary.

“Jesus, what crawled up your ass and died, huh?” She questioned while struggling to release herself from his grip. He was leaning over her, full weight pushing her arms into the wall and it was far from comfortable. “Hittin' the sauce a bit early there, aren't ya, Joel?”

“You are way outta bounds, inmate,” he growled and Nicky told herself she was imagining the liquor on his breath, “I should have you sent to max for this.”

“You and I both know you don't have the authority to do that, Lights Man,” she sneered, equal parts bored and fed-up with their encounter, “So why don't you just get outta my way, hm?”

Luschek huffed indignantly, muttering curses to himself as he maneuvered both her wrists into on hand, dragging her along behind him until he found a nearby door and flung it open. The whole short walk Nicky struggled and hissed at him, not wanting to cause any real commotion that could land her in even more trouble. When he shoved her unceremoniously into the unlit room, she growled, turning to face him with a scowl on and her sleeves rolled up. He shut the door behind him, locking it as he went. The jangle of keys on a ring filled the room as he turned to her, still looking more pissed than what she thought necessary.

“What the hell?!”

“You can't talk to me like that!”

“So write another fuckin' shot and let me go!” All usual jokes and haughty attitude aside, Nicky didn't like the idea of being pulled into a dark, empty room by a male guard after hours and having the door locked behind him. No one that knew Nicole Nichols would ever dare to say she was one to get nervous. Paranoid perhaps, but drugs did that to you.

“You demanding poochies are all the same,” Luschek complained, ignoring Nicky's confused look and mouthing of 'poochies?' as he stepped closer, “You think you can just do and say whatever you want!”

He moved forward again and Nichols jumped back, glancing around for anything she could possibly use to defend herself. It was only at this point that she really looked at the room they were in at all; neat, organized and with plants lining every free surface that wasn't already occupied by books. She recognized the old phone she had been allowed to use to call her mom her first day in the slammer and realized they were in Caputo's office. The old guy was gone for the night.

Finding nothing she could pick up and wield or throw without having to worry about noise or mess, she turned to the electrician, letting her shoulders fall and head tilt in a supplicating fashion. She let her big, brown eyes turn up to her work supervisor, blinking quickly to create a pretty sheen over them. It was the same look she used when begging money off her mother or snacks off of Red. A look that said, 'I'm small; harmless. You want to help me, not hurt me.'

“Listen, Luschek,” she began, voice low now; placating. It's natural graveliness played into her charade. “I'm sorry if you're havin' a bad night or somethin', but you gotta let me go.”  
The man scoffed, large hands on his hips where his usually present tool belt was absent. He took another step towards his employee and she side stepped halfway behind the desk, hoping to put any space at all between them. She was half convinced Luschek was buzzed, and if not then just really, really pissed about something. She'd seen him annoyed a few times over the years, but she wasn't exactly eager to get in touch with his angrier side.

“Luschek-”

“Stop talking!” he snapped, crowding right into her personal space now. She backtracked, nearly tripping over Caputo's chair before finding her back against the wall. Luschek had followed her step for step and now loomed over her not unlike he had in the hallway. It was darker here though, his face was obscured and Nichols had to just guess that he was glaring at her, his hot breath ghosting over her face. “You talk too damn much!”

“I resent-”

Her smart-ass reply was halted by a heavy hand being placed over her mouth. She gawked, eyes wide as they stared up at Luschek who was sighing while also shaking his head, barely looking at Nicky as if not even truly realizing he had covered her lips. His feet shuffled down near her own, shifting his weight slightly to lean partially against her. Definitely buzzed.

“No more talking please,” he said smoothly and damn near pleasantly like they were discussing the weather. His next deep sigh was cut short as he felt a slimy, slippery wetness slither over his palm. He pulled back as if he had been burned instead of licked. “Gross! Nichols!”

“Well what'd you expect?!” she huffed at him, pushing away from the wall so that their chests bumped. Reaching up with his dry hand, Luschek pushed her back, keeping the palm pressed into her collar bone as they both glared into the dark spot they hoped the other's face occupied.

“I expect you to have a little more respect for me,” he explained slowly as if talking to a certified idiot. Nicky rolled her eyes. “I'm a federal corrections officer!”

“Ugh, fine,” she groaned, the lateness of the hour and the weirdness of the encounter beginning to take its toll on her, “I'll have more respect for you from now on, but put part of your body over my mouth again and I'm gonna lick it, capiche?”

She hadn't especially meant for it to sound sexual, but for whatever reason the thought of licking other parts of Luschek's body was immediately where her warped mind went. She huffed lowly, trying to laugh and make it seem like she knew what she had been implying when she unintentionally implied it, but her little cover up wasn't needed since the man in front of her barely seemed to be listening.

“Luschek?”

He didn't answer. Eyes finally adjusting to the darkness, Nicky frowned up at the officer, noting that his own eyes were simultaneously focused on her yet far away. He seemed to be staring at the area right between her nose and lips, or at least that's what she told herself. His hand was still holding her into the wall, the heal of his palm just barely pushing into the top most cushion of her right breast.

“Hey, Luschek,” she grinned, crazy locks flopping around her face as she tilted her head up at him, “See something you like?”

That seemed to snap him back from wherever he had went because he immediately yanked his hand off her, stumbling back a few paces, a clatter letting the inmate know he had bumped into Caputo's desk.

“Jesus, Nichols!” He flicked the lamp on the desk on and they both hissed, rubbing at their eyes as the tiny bulb brought light to the darkness. “I'm not coming on to you!”

“Well, ya coulda fooled me,” she grumbled, blinking the last few spots away from her vision as she fixed him with a cool look. “Dragging me around in the dark. No one around.” He scoffed; she was fucking with him. With a laugh and a shake of her curls she stepped up to him, tiny hand placed on his chest. “You really know how to make a girl feel special.”

“Knock it off, inmate,” he grumbled, practically jumping out of his skin when her hand suddenly began to head south at an alarming rate. “Nichols!”

Nicky had been expecting to laugh it off. For him to push her back like he had on more than one occasion, call her a dike, and let them both be on their way. What she hadn't been expecting was for her hand to suddenly make contact with a surprisingly well pitched tent in her boss' pants. She jumped when she touched it. Luschek groaned.

“Holy shit, Joel,” she stammered, honestly surprised. The man shifted uncomfortably, the new position only making it so that his erection cast a humorously large shadow across the wall in the lamp light. “You got the hots for me?”

“Shut up, Nicky,” he grumbled, using her first name for the first time that night. She practically giggled, playing as if she was going to touch it again. “Knock it off!”

“Oh, Luschek, I never knew you felt like this,” she cackled, hopping towards him, hands reached out towards his pants. He continued to retreat from her and she got a sick satisfaction from seeing the way his face flushed whenever she got close to brushing it again. She did so love the power of turning someone on and figured if she danced around it enough, the man would eventually retreat completely, sparing her the shot and a trip to the SHU.

She was still laughing when he pushed her back, ignoring his body for the moment as he moved her back towards the desk and all but slammed her down on it's surface, poised over her. Her laughing halted, eyes wide in shock as she looked up at him. He had grabbed both her wrists again, squeezing hard as he kept her from kicking her legs by placing his up against them. She squirmed underneath him, the paranoia from early coming back in a sharp spike at their position.

“Stop that!” he snapped at her, sounding already out of breath though she had barely given him any resistance in getting her on the desk. She bucked, an annoyed grunt leaving her lips as she tried to push his chest away with her own. “Stop it! Stop it, Nichols! You're gonna get us caught!” She started jerking her whole body, the desk rocking loudly. “I'm not going to hurt you, Nicky, Jesus, stop fighting!”

She stilled. Any other man in his position would've been trapped with an arm full of pissed off Nicole Nichols at this point, but for whatever crazy reason, she trusted Joel Luschek and had been reassured when he'd promised not to hurt her. He was just leaning on her now, seemingly trying to catch his breath. She thought about making a comment on him needing to get in shape, but then decided her mouth had gotten her into enough trouble tonight. She watched him above her, his eyes closed as his breathing slowly began to even out. In this position, she could still feel his length pressed hard right within the v of her legs, but he didn't seem intent on using it so she wasn't intent on mentioning it. The poor guy had seen a lot of friction just a few moments ago.

“You gonna let me up any time soon, big fella?” she inquired after another few beats of quiet. Luschek sighed, looking half tempted to cover her mouth again, but instead, with barely a glance at her, he released her wrists and moved away. He seemed to sag as she straightened up, still keeping his lower half as turned away from her as he was able without giving her his back. She scratched at her elbow, feeling as awkward as he looked.

“Sorry...about that,” he muttered finally, catching her off guard. Her eyebrows raised and she placed her fists on her hips to contemplate his profile.

“Don't sweat it,” she replied lowly, sagging herself as she motioned as if to make her exit. She didn't know what made her hesitate. Maybe the still flustered look on his bearded face, or recalling the feel of his weight on her. Maybe it was the fact that her own nether regions were still wide awake and ready for action after her recent trip to the bathroom and that at some point during their little tussle her heart had started pounding like crazy. “You know if you ever want to...whatever...I wouldn't tell anyone.”

He scoffed, his head shaking in the low lamp light as he looked everywhere but her face. “Yeah, sure.”

“Nah, I mean it,” she said lightly, trying to be as casual as possible with her reason for not fleeing the room immediately, “You got an itch...I'm told I'm a really good scratcher.”

Again, the phrase, though merely a weak metaphor for her sexual reputation, had not actually been meant to sound so sexual. She hadn't meant to put the image of her scratching long lines down his back into both of their minds making the room feel tense and hot all over again. He turned further away from her.

“Good night, Nichols.”

Nicky hesitated, not sure where his answer left their conversation. For him it was obviously at the end, but what about all the middle bits? What about her out right offer to fuck whenever he got the urge to? She didn't lay that offer out all around Litchifield, and never to a guard so she was honestly very curious as to whether or not he was picking up what she was putting down. Would he come find her soon? He was clearly aroused, any idiot with eyes could see that, but Nicky could see he was struggling with himself to hold back and try to carry on as if nothing had transpired here. She felt any mentions of her getting a shot or sent to SHU were long out the window. That would require explaining as to why after finding her out of bounds, it had taken him so long to return her to her bunk. Couldn't have the wrong people asking the wrong questions. Still, she hated to leave the guy hanging. Hated to leave herself hanging even more so. Approaching him the way she would have approached one of her jumpy junky friends back in the day, Nicky strolled up to Luschek and placed one hand on his shoulder while the other flitted down town once more.

“What're you-”

“Shhh,” she soothed, turning him slowly so they were face to face, her left hand officially cupping him through his slacks. “Come on, Luschek,” she murmured into his ear, “Lemme scratch your back for ya.”

Next thing she knew, Luschek's mouth came crashing down on hers. She chuckled into the kiss, a sense of triumph coursing through her as his facial hair tickled her cheeks. Strong hands grabbed at her hips and walked her back towards the desk again. When they bumped it this time, the whole thing shook and the sound of pens and pencils and perhaps one sturdy mug falling to the ground rattled through the room.

The electrician pushed her down onto the wooden surface, looking half excited, half panicked as he took a second to eye her from above. Nicky smirked at him, feeling quite the same as she pulled him back down to lock their lips together once more. Luckily he didn't feel the need to hold her wrists down this time around so she was free to grip at his shirt and hair as he fumbled to undo his pants with one hand and cradle her head with the other.

As caught up in the moment as Nicky was, she found herself wondering internally how this would play out. Would she be able to tell people without it getting out? Would Luschek get caught and fired? What happened to her if that happened? There was a lot of shit resting on this one night, but despite what she had just decided mere minutes ago about orgasms not being worth getting in trouble, Nicky figured looking over her shoulder for the next two years was worth being able to brag she had fucked a guard one time. In Caputo's office no less. On the desk.

Luschek moaned as, with both hands, Nicky began to paw and pull at the bottom of his shirt, hoping to yank it over the top of his fat head without incident. It was hard, but eventually he backed off enough so that they could both rid him of the garment and toss it aside. Next her pants and underwear went, falling in a admitably damp heap on the ground.

She kept her top on and he kept his bottoms on, zippers and buttons all undone to allow for easy access which was why Nicky was surprised when he didn't immediately go for gold when she spread for him. Instead he reached down and did something to himself outside of her line of vision that had his face scrunch in momentary pain before he looked back at her, seeming more in control now. She quirked an eyebrow, legs still in their upright and locked position.

“Everything okay down there?” She quipped.

“If we do this,” He began, the 'if' seeming highly unlikely in her eyes, “You can't ever breathe a word about it to anyone. And if you do, I will...kill you!...With murder!...Ok?”  
She was chuckling by the end of his interruption, but nodded none the less, nose scrunched up as she leaned back to make herself comfortable. “Whatever you say, boss,” she mused, “Now get to fuckin'.”

She was again surprised when he didn't mount her immediately but instead took a knee at the edge of the desk. Her mouth was open, ready to ask just what the hell he was up to when suddenly she felt his breath right over her sweet spot. Her breathing hitched, more from shock than anything. She'd had enough people down there that proximity alone was not enough to set her heart racing. She just hadn't been expecting Luschek to get in that position. Eating out, fingering, any sort of foreplay like that seemed more reserved for people with a relationship, not two acquaintances fucking in a dark office on any old random night. Still, almost as soon as she'd realized he was down there, she felt his finger gently probe her slick entrance before pushing in slowly.

The breath that escaped her would have sounded like a very thoughtful hum to anyone pressing an ear to the door. The next one that came as he entered a second finger would have been a bit harder to explain. He shushed her gently, the vibration of the sound shooting right through her since his mouth was hovering just over where his fingers had disappeared. She gasped, trying to hide the girly sound in a grunt as he began to move his fingers back and forth, in and out, the stretch and pull of his skin against hers driving her just a little insane.

“Jesus, fuck,” She muttered, not knowing what to do with her hands as they shook near her sides. 

She could feel Luschek's eyes on her and refused to turn into a mumbling, twitching mess the way the girls she fucked did. She could take some light fingering without making a huge scene. This didn't continue for long since as soon as Luschek saw her settle down, his actions not getting much reaction any longer, he switched up his play. Crooking the fingers he'd buried in her experimentally before pulling them clear, he moved down and placed his mouth over the now vacant hole and began sucking.

“Jesus, Mary, mother'a God!” Nicky still had her wits about her enough to keep her words in a hushed whisper, but the rest of her body seemed to leave her control. Her back arched up off the desk and one hand shot down between her legs to clutch in Luschek's hair. As his tongue flicked over her clit she tugged.

“Ow!”

“Don't you dare stop,” she huffed down at him, eyes narrowed as he looked up at her, face drawn away from her aching center.

“Ease up on my hair!”

“Make me,” she challenged, immediately shoving him back down into her crotch. He gave some resistance at first but then went along. She smirked, the cocky expression only having a second to enjoy being on her face before if was wiped away by a barely stifled groan. Luschek had reinserted his fingers.

Nicky's whole body ached as if it was a coiled spring waiting for release. She was still sensitive from earlier and so Luschek's attentions had her legs all but quivering in an embarrassingly short time. She kept her hand fisted in his hair, her other arm propping her up so she could watch. It'd been a while since a man was down there, and she found she enjoyed the scratch of his beard against her thighs. One particularly deep push of his fingers timed perfectly with a wet swipe of her clit had her moaning loudly and flopping back on the desk. Luschek was up and glaring at her in seconds.

“You need to be quiet!” he grouched, brows furrowed in annoyance though his mouth was quirked smugly.

“And you need to fuck me,” Nicky retorted breathlessly, taking the situation back into her own hands as she yanked him down on top of her by his arm. He stumbled slightly, banging the desk with his knee and sending a folder sliding off. They both cringed at the noise, but forgot it almost instantly as he positioned himself between her legs. There was a sheen of sweat over his brow and Nicky could tell he wouldn't have lasted without release much longer down on his knees. 

Reaching into his pants, he pulled his dick out and gave it a few rough strokes before positioning it at her entrance. Nicky had hummed politely at the site of it, and sighed breathily as it pushed against her folds. Luschek stilled his hips with obvious effort to look at her again. They were both breathing pretty heavily and the room felt thick with it as they stared at each other. She was surprised but glad that the lamp hadn't been knocked off the desk yet since it allowed her brown eyes to meet his blue ones as he spoke.

“You sure about this?”

“Luschek,” she huffed, both touched and annoyed and turned on by his apparent concern, “This isn't my fuckin' senior prom. I ain't tryin'a make it special, just get in there!”  
With a curt nod and a small sarcastic solute, he pushed in without further prompting, hands gripping her hips. The thrust was hard and fast and it hurt much to Nicky's surprise. She gasped, pushing herself into a sitting position in an attempt to pull herself away. Her face was scrunched up in pain and Luschek immediately froze.

“What the fuck!? What happened?” He withdrew partially, hands staying on her bare hips as he squinted at her. Nicky could almost hear the stupid question forming in his head. “Is this...is this your first time with a dude?”

“God, no!” Nicky huffed, returning to her position on her back and leaving out that this probably hurt worse than her first time with a dude had. “It's just been a while is all.” At Luschek's skeptical look she rolled her eyes. “You don't see commissary handing out strap-ons to help the ladies stretch it out, do ya?”

He grumbled his assent to that and she politely told him to carry on. A few more pumps was all it took for him to see it wasn't getting any better for the inmate, so reaching down, he began massaging her clit with his thumb as he rocked into her. She hummed her appreciation immediately, body opening to him like a flower as he took her on the desk. It really had been a while since Nicky had been with a man, having embraced her preference to girls sophomore year of high school. It'd been a sea of women since then and she barely even recalled the names of the two or three guys she had experimented with early on.

As Luschek began to pound into her in earnest, she was forced to admit that a bunch of fifteen year olds probably hadn't known what they were doing cause this was the shit. She moaned as loudly as she dared, the noises only being interrupted for strings of curses as she clung to his shoulders, pulling him closer every time he pumped in, a small whine leaving her every time he had to pull out.

“Fuck, Nicky,” the guard above her breathed, eyes falling closed as he concentrated on fucking into her. He'd stop every few pumps, likely holding back on orgasm and Nicky preened internally knowing that he was so affected by her.

His thumb was working absolute magic in her down stairs area and she felt a needy whine building in her throat as she began lifting her hips to meet each thrust, her body striving for release. Luschek seemed to hear the noise coming, because he removed his thumb to grab the back of her neck, her complaint being thoroughly snuffed as he pulled her up to devour her mouth. Tasting herself on his tongue and smelling her in his beard was weirdly hot for her and the moan started to build again.

“Don't make a noise,” he huffed, pulling his face away from hers solely to deliver the message into her ear. Trying to comply for fear he might stop, she doubled her efforts in meeting his thrusts, the desk rocking and items clattering all around. He stilled his hips, having to pry her hands off his shoulders as she whined in frustration. “Be quiet!”

Her eyes had fallen closed at some point, but she snapped them open to watch as he re positioned, her chest rising and falling at a rapid pace. Hiking one of her legs up higher on his hip and turning slightly, he started again. Nicky almost immediately disobeyed his command to quiet down as the new angle allowed him to surge even deeper. As if sensing her control slipping, Luschek began pounding faster, eyes closing again as he strove for his own completion. The two of them were panting and sweating and flesh was slapping and just as Nicky knew someone was going to come to investigate the desk slamming into the wall, she felt wave after wave of release sweeping over her.

“Fuck!”

Luschek didn't stop, carrying on relentlessly, bringing her to a second orgasm in as many minutes. This time it hit her so full on that the electrician had to muzzle her with his own hand, her stifled screams ringing in the tiny room. He moved faster and harder, his own satisfied grunts filling the space where her groans had been wiped out. With one hand grasping at her lifted thigh and the other clamped over her mouth, he gave one final thrust and came into her, a sharp yelp leaving his lips from where his head was bent over her collar.

When the last bit of what he had to offer seeped into her, Luschek collapsed on Nicky, any thoughts of keeping the desk tidy forgotten as they both panted. The room was absolutely muggy and smelled like sex even to them. The floor around the desk was a mess and Nicky sighed wondering if he expected her to help clean that up. Tiny shivers were going through the guard every few seconds and it took several minutes for his hand to slip away from the inmate's mouth, allowing her to flex her jaw and breathe deeply at last.

“Damn,” she panted on a laugh, “Guess the only thing you half-ass is your job, huh?” Her breathy laugh seemed to jolt him awake, his head popping up from her chest comically fast. He blinked at her, blue eyes dim in the lamp light, as if he had never seen her before, or was only just realizing she was there. A tad put off and a lot sweaty from his body, Nicky gave her signature smirk and shrugged at him. “Gotta say,” she continued, “I do appreciated the effort. Hope you weren't showin' off for little ole me.”

And like that the spell was broken and Luschek jumped away from her as if she had bed bugs. He almost fell, his pants and boxers having slipped down around his ankles at some point, but when Nicky reached out a hand to steady him, he bat it away. She frowned, watching him comb his fingers harshly through his brunette hair before bringing them down to scrub over his face.

“Oh, fuck,” he growled, giving her his back and starting to yank his bottoms back on, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, bitch 'n ass.”

“Starting to sound like someone I know,” Nicky joked, sitting calmly on the desk, still totally bottomless as Luschek struggle to get his uniform shirt on the right way. “What the fucks up with you?”

“You shouldn't be here,” was the only answer as the electrician's head finally popped up through the hole in his shirt. He was frantically trying to sweep things off the ground and reorganize them on the desk. It looked like shit so far. “You're outta bounds inmate.”

“You kiddin' me with this?” Nicky asked, squinting at the broad man that had just nearly fucked her straight into the wood of the desk, “We just bang it out like animals and now you're-”

“Am I gonna have to give you a shot?” He was all business now; Luschek on the first day of a new detail. Her usual, lazy boss was gone and the man that had just rocked her world was definitely gone. She found herself angry and glaring at him over it. “Get back to your dorms, it's passed lights out.”

“Yeah sure,” she grumbled, sliding down from the desk. With quick, frustrated movements, she was able to yank her underwear and pants back on, only getting more ticked off when the cool slick from earlier rubbed against her. Her clothes were soon on and with one last disgusted glance over her shoulder at Luschek who was doing his best to brush the soil of an upturned plant back into its pot, she tossed the door to Caputo's office open. “Screw you too, pal.”


	2. Some Sort of Whirlwind Love Affair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why'd you do it?”
> 
> She paused and shot him a confused look around her mane. “Do what?”
> 
> “Come back and...kiss me and shit.”

Joel Luschek stomped down the crowded hall, inmates skittering out of his way when they saw the terrible mood he was obviously in. His hair, while not usually coiffed and styled very carefully, was in extra disarray today, likely from him tugging at it all night. His uniform was rumbled and slept in, the only thing having changed about it from the day before being his pants. His eyes were red rimmed and heavy lidded as his tired irises moved from prisoner to prisoner, looking for one frazzled haired lady in particular.

His stomach was in knots and he felt as if he might stop at a bin and vomit any moment. Ever since he had woken up in his dingy little apartment that morning, he had been caught up with his own shame of what had happened with Nichols. Falling in with an inmate, falling in with an addict of an inmate was the absolute worst thing someone in his position could do. He could lose his job or worse be accused of some sort of heinous sex crime and end up in prison for real. The very thought of it made his hands shake.

He hadn't meant to have sex with Nichols, he really hadn't. He just wanted to scare the fear of guard into her, tired after a long day of getting lip from a bunch of demanding females that didn't know their asshole from an outlet. He'd wanted to blow off some steam tossing insults back and forth with the only non-waste of space in the place, but when she'd writhed beneath him and reached for him, her wild eyes dancing, it had all back-fired in his face.

He hadn't anticipated her not being in the mood for some verbal jabs and instead needing to be physically restrained with his body. He really hadn't thought ahead to what he would do if she squirmed and slithered against him until he'd gotten almost painfully hard in his stiff work pants. He hadn't expected her to be so soft and to look so wanting when she'd doubled back into Caputo's office. Taking her on the desk had been pure animal instinct and had felt better than anything he'd experienced in Lord knew how long.

As soon as they were done though, reality had crashed back into him like a truck and he'd all but bitten her head off trying to get her out of there. The rest of the night was spent reorganizing Caputo's office and pacing in front of his couch, trying not to think about sharp eyes and wild hair. The sun had risen on him chewing his nails near to ruin and ignoring as his cell buzzed insistently with text after text from Fischer.

He cursed now on his way to his office, skin just crawling thinking about running in to Susan. When she had finally agreed to a date with him after weeks of him dropping hints, he'd been over the moon. But one night out after seeing Caputo's weird band had made it clear they weren't looking for the same thing. He wanted a relationship with someone who could take him out of the mindset work got him in, but she wanted one with someone who could discuss the day's trials. The last thing he wanted when fresh off the clock was to talk about what he had done while on the clock, but that was exactly what Fischer wanted.

Plus she was kind of a prude which sort of sucked.

As it were, he had already been trying to cool it down with her, but the situation with Nichols had him thinking he may want to carry on just to get the feel of Nicky off his dick. It'd be a few weeks until he could, however; the scratch marks still fresh and stinging on his back would take time to heal. Today he would just have to soldier on and not lean too heavily on any walls.

Reaching the electrical shop found him blessedly alone and he heaved an exhausted sigh of relief. He'd managed to make it there without running into Nichols or Fischer. He wasn't sure which encounter would have been worse. Sitting now at his crap desk, he sighed again, scratching tiredly at his beard. The day was just starting and it had already been too long.

He was trying and failing to doze in his chair when the door swung open and in walked his main tormentor. Nichols was bright eyed and bushy tailed today just as she had been every other day she came for morning work detail. The inmates that shuffled in after all seemed content to just move listlessly in her shadow as she wise cracked and smiled her way to her usual table.

As soon as she was set behind her tool box, she finally deemed it worthy to glance up at him, her nose scrunching as she snickered in his direction. The slant of her mouth and swish of her hair immediately took him back to the night before when he'd been slamming into her, upset only that he hadn't had a free hand to wrap in her wild locks. Her nails had dug into his shoulders, pricking skin and he hadn't minded then, but seeing her now, the wounds stung anew.

He barely managed to flounder through their instructions for the day, shooing away the newts with an extra bite of annoyance once they all had their assignments. Like so many other days, Nichols retreated to her 'glory hole' in the corner, poking away at nothing. Her usual little tag along, Chapman, was still away in SHU indefinitely, so she was all alone. Still slightly aroused from his earlier thoughts, Luschek decided now was as safe a time as any to approach her.

It irked him almost that she could just stand there, bright as day, tool belt slung in the complete wrong way around her hips, acting as if he barely even existed. He had shot her furtive glances all through his mockery of a lesson, trying to catch her eye as she made herself walrus teeth out of nails. Stepping up on her now under the guise of checking out her work, he couldn't decide which of the several emotions he'd flitted through since the night before he would let shine through.

“Sup, Nichols? Workin' hard or hardly workin'?” He could have kicked himself for the stupid phrase, but it seemed to amuse her well enough as she shot him a smirk over her shoulder.

“Ah well, you know me,” she quipped, handy-dandy screw driver chipping away at the wall, “Only work I like's the hard kind.”

The look in her eye could be described as nothing more than devious and it made his pants tighten in arousal at the same time it made his face flush with anger. She may as well make a public service announcement to the whole prison about their encounter with the way she was smirking at him. Like it had several times throughout the morning, his stomach clenched fearfully and he felt a sweat break out on the back of his neck.

“Inmate,” he barked, catching the attention of everyone in the room including the guard in the opposite corner, “You're here to learn electrical skills, not damage prison property.”

Her eyes were wide and annoyed as she looked all around, noting that O'Neill was making his way over. She groaned deep down in her throat, fixing Luschek with a glare, but the man was distracted by the compromising position her noise had immediately placed him in. When Scott reached them, the electrician was careful to keep his front side turned slightly away.

“Problem here?” the overweight man asked, looking disappointed to be reprimanding people so early. Nichols began to shake her head in the negative, but Luschek cut her off, motioning vaguely towards the wall.

“She's slackin' off,” he explained, choosing to ignore the way Nichols looked like she'd enjoy nothing more than choking him out. He also chose to ignore the way that thought made his erection even harder for some reason.

“That's a shot, inmate,” O'Neill sighed, going for his notepad. Nicky whined, hands fidgeting as she pushed her shoulder into Luschek's roughly, shoving him aside as she pleaded with the guard. He let her without complaint, more worried about other things

“Ah come on, O'Neill, I can't get a shot today, it's the job fair,” she explained, “A shot means they won't let me go.”

“Work detail is for work, Nichols,” he said, sounding truly sorry as he pat himself all over looking for a pen.

Luschek watched the short woman sag, mouth turned down at the edges, resigned to her day going to shit. He hadn't meant to actually get her in trouble, he was just hoping for a reason to get her out of there. Despite what the inmates liked to say about him, he wasn't a complete douche; he didn't enjoy tormenting the girls the way some of the others did. A comment or two here and there wasn't going to kill anyone. Up until Nichols, he'd never even looked at an inmate funny. Now he was looking at her with a face similar to that of someone suffering from constipation. She was sad, but it was easy to see that could easily become annoyed at any moment and he had a pretty good guess at who that annoyance would be aimed at.

“Actually,” he cut in just as Scott found a pen. The guard and inmate looked at the electrician in surprise. He sighed. “I'm willing to let it go...but she's gotta do an extra work assignment to make up for it.”

“How're you letting it go if you’re making me make up for it?” she sneered, not seeming appreciative of his offered help. He frowned at her. O'Neill was oblivious to any sort of exchange as he shrugged and put his pad away.

“Fine by me, you know I hate writin' those things,” he huffed, pudgy face looking almost jovial, “What's the extra assignment?”

The triumphant look on Nichols face as Luschek struggled to come up with an answer was almost enough to let her take the shot. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking too smug to be in prisoner clothes as he muttered incoherently, wracking a hand through his hair as was becoming his nervous habit.

“Um there's...a light,” he murmured lamely, “In one of the storage rooms...needs fixing.”

“Alright,” O'Neill conceded with a nod of the head, “If you wanna take her now, I can stay here with the rest of 'em.”

O'Neill's phrasing was only made more awkward as the bushy haired little addict turned her face up to Luschek and smiled. “Yeah, boss,” she breathed with an exaggerated bat of her lashes, “Take me now.”

If O'Neill noticed anything about her usually husky voice growing even more so he didn't mention it, simply tipping his head good-naturedly and wandering back to his post. Luschek watched him go, jaw clenched as he waited for Nichols to deem herself 'ready' to start off towards her new work site. When he glanced down at her and found her waiting patiently he immediately grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her out the room none too gently.

“Jesus, ease up would ya?” she griped, small legs struggling to keep up with his longer strides. “Feel like you're gonna rip my arm out.”

“Zip it.”

“What's eatin' you?”

“I said zip it, inmate,” he growled, marching them aimlessly down the hall as he tried to remember where a more or less secluded storage closet could be found in the hell hole he called a work place. Nichols trotted along beside him, head tilted at an angle so that her hair blew out like a flag as they went.

“Sure, whatever,” she sighed in a bored tone. He rolled his eyes at her. They went on in silence after that, him nodding to every coworker that passed them and her pulling faces at friendly inmates that were all raising eyebrows at her being escorted by the usually uncaring head of electrical.

Finally, down near the cafeteria, he found a closet he deemed acceptable and mockingly held the door open for her. For whatever reason, though, she looked hesitant to go in. With a frown and a quick glance around to make sure no COs were nearby, he shoved her in, yanking the door closed behind them. It was dark and for a second he wondered if he had somehow managed to find them a closet that actually did need it's light fixed, but then Nichol's reached around him and flicked the light on. The first thing he saw was her leaning right into his personal space, the light switch being located slightly behind his arm. He cleared his throat and she backed off, hands on hips as she eyed him up and down.

“So what the hell was that?” she inquired, raising an eyebrow when he took on an affronted look.

“Not me what the hell, you what the hell!”

“...What the hell?”

“Why don't you just go ahead and let everyone and their mother know that we fucked last night,” he snapped, getting to the root of his annoyance at last. She blinked at him in confusion before her expression changed to one of amusement.

“S'That an invitation?” she bluffed. With an angry huff of a sigh, he stepped towards her, but she didn't back down, no doubt use to having him crowd her in at this point. Closer now, he could practically smell her in the claustrophobic room and he was annoyed to find that she smelled a bit like sex. He grabbed her shoulders.

“Stop dickin' around, Nichols,” he growled at her, “I could lose my job, or worse-”

“Relax, man, I haven't told anyone,” she scoffed, trying and failing to brush him off and simply rolling her eyes when he pulled her closer. “What you wanna go another round or somethin'?”

He jumped back. “What?! No!”

“Then stop pulling me into fucking closets!” she snapped, aiming a swift kick at an empty bucket near their feet. In front of any other Litchfield staff, it would've meant a frankly trumped up shot, but Nichols and Luschek had been letting things slide for a lot of years. He wondered if perhaps that was why he found himself in this predicament to begin with. “What the hell was that in electrical? You tryn'a get me sent to SHU?”

“At least in SHU I know you wouldn't go flappin' your lips all over the place.”

“For fucks sake! I. Haven't. Told. Anyone!” Her arms were up by her head in an exaggerated shrug, the universal sign for 'What the fuck?'.

“But it's only a matter of time until you do and then I'm screwed,” he seethed, already seeing himself being carted off in a pair of too tight cuffs to live out the rest of his days in some place even worse than the one he was in every day with people like her. His little nightmare fantasy was viewed only by him, however, and Nichols did not look at all concerned with his fate as her eyes rolled back in her head and her lids fluttered.

“You need to calm down,” she grumbled, stepping over bottles of bleach and discarded chords to get to the door, “You gettin' all worked up is what got us in this mess in the first place.”

“Screw you,” he huffed, hands on hips and eyes aimed at the ceiling praying for strength.

“You already did.”

Much like the night before, her dismissive attitude and less than pleasant tone had his hackles up and he reached out, putting an arm to her chest as he pushed her against the wall. Her growl of irritation did nothing for his mood, but he had learned from the night before and kept his body carefully separate from hers as he spoke.

“I'm not kidding around, Nicky,” he breathed, leaning in close to glare into her eyes, “You breathe one word of this and-”

“You'll kill me with murder, I know,” she sassed. He closed his eyes and counted to ten, hoping for the patience to put up with her crap.

“No, I could lose my job like Mendez.”

“Mendez and the goldfish got caught, we didn't,” she said, looking as if he had just said the dumbest thing in the world as she tried to push his arm off. He pushed harder, trying to ignore the heat from her chest radiating through his shirt. It had been freezing in the prison on account of half the radiators needing repair, and her warmth pressed against him was almost more than he could handle.

“But we will if you keep being so obvious!” At her confused look he huffed. “Stop it with the sexual innuendos. And stop smiling at me!”

“I always fucking smile at you! We're…!”

The unfinished sentence hung between them like a used tampon and they both backed off from it. To say they were friends was to imply they had a sort of relationship and that was strictly frowned upon and could land them both in serious trouble. Saying they were coworkers, however, was almost as laughable as it was insulting to Nichols who after taking off the tool belt got to go down the hall and curl up in a crappy bunk while Luschek went home to an apartment and a real bed. They couldn't be friends, but they definitely weren't coworkers.

“We've known each other a while,” Luschek finally provided with an eyebrow raise to her, asking if this description of their non-relationship would suffice. She nodded for him to continue. “But that doesn't mean we should be okay raising suspicion.”

“Raising suspicion?” she laughed, hands brushing her hair back from her face, “The only one acting suspicious is you! Dragging me all over the place and getting me in trouble!”

“Well, I didn't think you'd wanna have this conversation out in the hall,” he retorted, finally removing his arm and backing up from her. He could begin to see where she had a point, but he really didn't feel like admitting it right now.

“Well, I didn't think you'd wanna have this conversation at all,” she snapped, knocking her shoulder into his as she made for the door. Her attitude seemed to have gotten progressively worse as the conversation went on, and as Luschek watched her reach for the handle, he could see the tension in her shoulders and the way her head shook back and forth making her hair go crazy.

“Why'd you do it?”

She paused and shot him a confused look around her mane. “Do what?”

“Come back and...kiss me and shit.”

It wasn't the most delicate and romantic way to state the facts, but what had happened with them hadn't been delicate or romantic at all. Sure he had gone down on her for no other reason than her enjoyment, which was pretty gentlemanly if he did say so himself, but then they had fucked like rabbits and he'd all but chased her out the door. Safe to say they weren't about to begin some sort of whirlwind love affair.

Nichols took her hand off the door in favor of leaning against it, arms crossed over her chest as she sighed loudly and shrugged. “Dunno,” she admitted, still shaking her head in thought.

Her answer, though seemingly honest, didn't really make sense to the electrician. Sure, the women here tossed it out any which way in order to make their time a little easier, but Nicky didn't seem the type. She was the dominate one in all her encounters from what he had heard. And she'd never put it down for a guard, even in return for a favor. It made no sense for her to make a move on him not only because he had nothing to offer, but also because she knew if he did he wouldn't follow through and give it to her. So his only way to understand the situation was to assume she had some kind of feelings for him.

“What, do you...” He felt stupid even saying it. Like a preteen passing a note to a pretty girl across the classroom. Not that he thought Nichols was pretty. “Like me or something?”

“No!” she bitched looking downright insulted. Still she refrained from any further attitude as she eyed him up and down. “You like me?”

“No,” he answered quick. Maybe too quick. She shrugged.

“Good, just two people that have known each other a while, gettin’ off and keepin' warm. I offered, you accepted, simple.”

“Except it's not,” he insisted, bringing his voice down to a whisper even though they were all alone. “You're a prisoner-”

“Thanks for reminding me.”

“And I'm a prison employee,” he pressed on, totally ignoring her interruption. “This could go South fast.”

“Well, then maybe you just shoulda rubbed one out like all the other guards instead of dragging me into a dark room and laying down on top of me.”

Joel would later go on to regret the affronted gasp he let out because Nicky would later go on to describe it as ‘fucking feminine’. Still, at that moment his jaw hung open and he leaned back from the wild haired woman as her mouth quirked in an obscenely smug fashion, arms crossed over her chest. He may have glanced down at her chest for a split moment, but then he was right back to being insulted.

“How dare you, madam?” he accused, daring to fall back on some of their usual light-heartedness to side step the truth of what she was saying. “I cannot be held accountable for what happens to my body when a wildcat pounces on it.”

He’d used that term to describe her on various occasions during her imprisonment and she had always thrown it back at him by claiming it was his secret way of calling her sexy. He figured there was no point in denying it now, even while in the process of denying it. He was honestly starting to feel a bit dizzy with all this back and forth and close proximity to Nichols and so just wanted a way out. Whatever his reasoning for it, his reaction earned a chuckle from the aforementioned wildcat, predatory though it was. He couldn’t decide if that was better than her being ready to bite his head off or not.

“You’re full’a shit, Joel,” she snorted, hands on hips and eyes in slits, “You enjoyed yourself and you know it.”

“Oh, like you didn’t,” he scoffed back, rubbing a hand over his eyes. He really was feeling shitty. And he didn’t really need to think of how much either of them had enjoyed themselves. Nicky tilted her head this way and that, jaw working quietly as she shrugged.

“Hey, I was just helpin’ out a friend,” she clarified, using that forbidden word sarcastically now. He snorted. “Scratchin’ his back for ‘im.”

He groaned as was also becoming his habit, not needing the infamous phrase to be dropped there and then lest his pants follow like they had the night before. “Yeah, you’re a real public servant,” he grouched. 

“Makin’ sure you don’t knock up Fischer is a public service,” she threw back, “This place doesn’t need any little Luscheks.”

She was too busy sniggering at her own sense of humor to notice that her boss had gone deathly still and was staring at the wall over the fingers that had just made another rough brush down his face. When she finally did notice, he was too far gone to hear her light calling of his name until she grew quickly bored of his behavior. The prisoner seemed to take pity on his predicament for once in her selfish life and cast him one last saucy grin before reaching for the door again. It was stupid really since he had yet to get her to swear a blood oath that she wouldn’t tell anyone and so of course he shut the door before she could squeeze her curvy hips through. Plus there was now something entirely different weighing on his mind.

“Oh come the fuck on!”

“Nicky…”

“What?! For fuck’s sake we’ve been in this closet forever-!”

“Shut up!” he snapped over her, blue eyes hard even as she pouted childishly, her shoulders sagging as she paced the short length of the room before coming to stand before him again. Hands on hips. Eyes in slits. “Are you on...anything?”

“Fuck you!” she aimed a finger right between eyes, but he caught it and didn’t let go even as she went on a tiny rant about how dare he accuse her of having anything on her when it was so obvious she’d have been nostril deep in that instead of having him dick deep in her if that were the case. He let the insult and all others that followed slide with an eye roll and shook her back to reality.

“No-no!” he huffed in annoyance, “I meant...are you on the pill?”

The wide-eyed confused stare she sent his way would have been dazzling on any other woman that wasn’t wearing a hideous orange jumpsuit with hair like a bird’s nest. He didn’t think Susan had ever looked at him like that and even if she had it wouldn’t have been the same. For one her eyes were a completely different shape and shade than Nichols and her whole face and being seemed to just beam out a childish like optimism and naive friendliness. Nicky looked like she’d bite you as soon as kiss you and he’d always liked that about her. He looked down into those cinnamony orbs and could have almost said they looked warm before they disappeared under her eyelids, crudely smudged with contraband eyeliner, and she laughed right in his face; crooked teeth on display.

“Yeah, Luschek, for sure,” she cackled, practically leaning on him for support as he sighed at the ceiling, any moment his sick mind may have been creating thoroughly broken, “Whi-while I’ve been here, I’ve been super regular about taking a pill to keep from getting knocked up!”

Her laughed was as rough as her voice and he shivered as he pushed her away, not in the least bit amused. He wasn’t sure he’d ever heard the inmate laugh so outright, but he internally compared it to a hyena with a throat cold before shaking her by the shoulders once more, asking what the hell was supposed to keep their little escapade from creating a ‘little Luschek’ as she put it. 

“J-Joel,” she snickered, near out of breath and gasping, “I’m-I’m not...getting pregnant any time soon.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Don’t worry about it.” With a final humored sigh, she wiped a tear from her eye and beamed up at him. Her cryptic answer didn’t serve to ease his mind at all, but he figured if she did end up pregnant that the Spanish witch that had taken over the kitchen could fix it. Or any of the dozen flights of concrete stairs they all walked down everyday. Still, he narrowed his eyes at her.

“Swear you won’t tell anyone.”

“I swear.”

“On your life, inmate.”

“My life ain’t worth much if you haven’t noticed.” Her comment made him frown for all the wrong reasons, but she didn’t seem to pick up on that as she rolled her eyes and conceded. “On my life.” He was just about to make a huge fuck up and tell her that her life was, in fact, worth something when the door opened and slammed into her from behind. She stumbled into him, clutching the back of her head. “Ow! Fuck!”

“Oh, sorry Nichols, we thought it’d be empty.”

Luschek huffed as the greasy haired drug addict sniggered to her equally janky-toothed cohort. He’d never liked Taylor and Rice, feeling the two were even worse than drug hounds like Nichols since they’d never had a clean moment throughout their whole time in Litchfield. At least Nichols kept her shit together for Red’s sake; the blonde and brunette supporting each other in the doorway simply didn’t give a fuck about their lives either way. It was a miracle they hadn’t managed to destroy a washing machine in their hyped up states just yet. Still, Nicky smiled as if greeting old friends and stepped away from him.

“No worries, Angie, it is.” Like the smooth talker she was Nicky made her exit, not drawing attention to the fact they had been in there together for a suspicious amount of time at all. Luschek tried to pretend he had even an iota of her cool headedness as he followed, glaring at the cackling inmates, stomping down the hall after the woman who definitely wasn’t heading back to work. His head was starting to pound.

“Nichols-”

“There’s no way you’ve got more to say,” she interrupted immediately, “That’s fucking impossible.”

“We aren’t done,” he grumbled, trying to keep calm as the hall grew more congested the further they went. They really had been talking a while; this looked like the sort of foot traffic that picked up at lunch time. Every person that passed had a smart comment for the wildcat. Some even had a roaming hand or two. He shivered, thinking about what they all may have and given to her that he would now have contracted. He cursed himself for not taking a mental health day.

“Unless you’re offering another go, I think we are.”

Her statement was punctuated by her sudden stop and turn. Luschek found himself chest to chest to the last person he had been chest to chest to and who and since become the last person he wanted to be chest to chest to. Her downright mean smirk was in full swing once more and he was caught staring at its curve as he had been the night before. Her lips moved silently, a sound like rushing water filling his ears as blood flowed from his head quickly South. He really was sick

“What?”

“I said you really wanna lay one on me right here and now, big daddy?”

Reality dawning on him, he jumped back, once again filled with self-loathing and thoroughly disgusted that it took so little for him to get sidetracked. Without a word, he turned and stormed back the way he had come. Her harsh laughter followed him all the way down the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is story is meant to begin the night before/day of the Job Fair which was season 2, episode 2. Everything following will continue from that point in the show's plot.  
> Clearly the new season's events have not been taken into consideration since as of right now it looks like Nicky will not be in it. If that remains true, this story will end at season 3, episode 3.


	3. Double Entendre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Am I outta bounds, Luschek?”
> 
> He looked at her. She glared back.
> 
> “No.”

Nichols watched her boss flee the scene, not telling her if or when she could return to work detail. She scoffed, chest still metaphorically puffed out, as she chewed her lip to ruin to keep herself from yelling after him. Yelling about how he had all but come on to her and how he hadn’t said no. Pacing the short width of the hall like a lioness, her eyelids fluttered rapidly as she fought off irritation and confusion. Irritation that Joel hadn’t taken her bait and pushed her into some other closet to fuck her silly all over again, and confusion as to why him doing the exact opposite would bug her in the first place.

The inmate ticked her head left and right, working her jaw as she felt an itching tingle run up her spine just like it had been doing all morning ever since she woke up remembering she had to see _him_ that day. She’d griped all through breakfast, the others commenting on her unusually crabby mood until she finally realized she needed to pep the fuck up before she actually saw Luschek or else he’d know something was up. She’d rallied, bursting into electrical with a smile on her face and had even sat nice and pretty all through his instructions for the day before returning to the safety of her literal hole in the wall.

Luschek barging over and nearly getting her sent to SHU had begun the tirade of emotions she was feeling now, irritation and confusion not being the least of them. She was hyped up. Like she couldn’t even be bothered to sit still because there was an electric current running through her ass every time she tried. It was like the very beginning of a really good high, but even worse because she knew the crash was coming and coming soon and with repercussions worse than a talk from her mother. She had a feeling a stint in some expensive upstate rehab facility couldn’t help her anymore than it ever had and so another emotion she was feeling, annoyingly enough, was fear.

Fear because, whether or not he realized it, Luschek had all the power at this point. Sure, she could go and claim he’d forced himself on her, but she had no proof and it was a guard’s word against a prisoner’s which only ever really had one outcome. Not that she would ever attempt to screw Joel over like that, but it was a lot more likely he could convince Caputo that she tried to seduce him than he succeeded in seducing her; a card carrying lesbian. She had a lot more to gain from such an interaction either way.

When she’d gotten back to her bunk the night before, breaths still a bit shaky and the unmentionable dripping down her thighs, she’d contemplated how this whole thing could play out. On the one hand, they could both act like adults and pretend it never happened. Easy. On the other hand, Luschek could get her sent to max. Unfavorable. On the hand Luschek was avoiding, she could get him fired. Possible, but also not the former addict’s style. On the hand Nicky herself was praying on, she could use this situation to gain a lot of power for the remainder of her stay. Dangerous.

Overall Nicky figured there were way too many hands in the game and the best way to avoid getting slapped by one was to just pretend like the whole thing never happened. But it was a bit difficult when Luschek was snatching her away from work and shoving her into empty closets.

“Hey, Nicky, watcha doin’?”

Nichols started, but her version of being surprised wasn’t much more than a hard blink in the direction her train of thought had headed off in before she turned to face Lorna Morello. She’d nearly forgotten she was standing in a congested hallway in the middle of a women’s correctional facility. Nearly.

“Oh hey, Morello,” she greeted with a nod, having to clear her throat over some roughness, “Nothin’, nothin’, just Luschek bustin’ my ass to fix a light that ain’t even broken.”

The little brunette giggled, head bobbing as they fell into step beside one another. Nicky still had her work belt on and so they headed towards electrical even though she’d been keen on avoiding it after her talk with Joel. As Morello chattered happily about the day and all the things she had planned around the job fair Nicky listened, but only barely. She mostly watched Lorna, her shifty eyes honing in on the little things she’d always found so attractive about her friend. The way her lips, constantly painted a vivid red, curved up at the edges as if she couldn’t help but smile even in her situation. The way she had freckles spattered across her nose like Nicky’s, but lighter and not so dense. Her hair, her hips, her voice, her little hands that fluttered around while she spoke.

Morello was beautiful and had always been Nicky’s favorite for a lot of reasons, but today she just wasn’t feeling the draw she usually felt to try and coax the tiny woman to a more private area. Instead as they walked she took note of how her thighs rubbed together, slightly irritating the rug burn she’d gotten from Luschek’s beard. She’d had to admit when she plopped down a bit too roughly at breakfast that her nether regions were sore in a way they hadn’t been for years and she kind of liked it. Lorna may be able to tire her out, but she couldn’t wear her down.

With Luschek it was different. Before the infamous night Nicky had never really looked at him with anything other than an exasperated eye. She didn’t think she found him especially good looking and his personality left plenty to be desired. Though, of course, she had to admit that it jived with her own in the harshest of ways. Luschek was always good for a laugh which was welcome in a place like this, but Nicky had never even thought about throwing him the side eye until he’d caught her on her way back to her bunk. And now she was walking around with a literal and figurative ache that he was perfectly capable of handling but was too much of a bitch to do so.

Nichols huffed angrily to herself, a headache starting to bloom behind her eyes as they finally reached electrical. Her detail group was packing up, officially done putzing around for the day, and Joel was sat behind his desk with his head in his hands like he had his own migraine coming on. Nicky sniffed, not sparing him a second glance, as she moved to drop off her tool belt. Morello still chattered at her side, every few moments reaching out to touch her friend’s arm at particularly juicy parts, with her head leaned in close to speak directly into Nicky’s ear. The wild haired inmate had completely lost track of the conversation but smiled to see her friend smile and huffed out her own throaty laugh when Lorna threw her head back, cackling at something she had said.

For whatever fucked up reason she glanced up towards her Luschek’s desk while Lorna’s eyes were still squeezed shut and caught him staring. Her boss hadn’t picked his head up from his hands, but his eyes were peeking out from between his fingers and he seemed to be glaring at the pair of them. Morello wasn’t on his work detail, but he knew her as Nicky’s friend and was used to seeing her come in and out to chat up the wildcat. It had never been a problem before, but today as the little Italian steadied herself with a hand on Nicky’s shoulder he huffed and straightened up at his desk. He kind of looked like shit.

“Morello, beat it, this isn’t your assignment,” he grouched, making Lorna jump as if she hadn’t even noticed him. She beamed and aimed a little wave his way which only made him glare harder. Nicky squinted at the man suspiciously as Lorna made her excuses and moved to leave electrical, promising to see Nicky at the job fair. Luschek looked just a bit too pleased at this and Nicky decided that this was a great moment to start putting a few hunches to rest. She shuffled after Lorna.

“Wait for me,” she breathed, smiling predatorily at her friend and taking the shorter woman’s hand into her own. She didn’t dare look in Luschek’s direction but she could feel _someone’s_ eyes on her. “We can get ready for the job fair together.”

Lorna was all a flutter with excitement at the prospect and immediately started waxing poetic about what she had in mind for Nicky’s hair and makeup. The brunette leaned her small body into her friend, completely oblivious to the fact they had an audience of one, and continued to run off at the mouth all the way back to their cell block. Nicky almost felt bad for using her to test a theory, but she figured it didn’t hurt Morello any and now she knew for sure what before she had only guessed at. Luschek wanted to bone again.

His irritation at seeing Lorna in electrical was so obviously caused by jealousy that it was almost laughable. Nicky didn’t bother trying to wonder how he would mansplain refusing to fuck her again while simultaneously not wanting to see her fuck anyone else; it was just too good. She could feel a haughtiness growing just below her ribs and it put even more swagger in her step than usual, her foul mood from the morning and her talk with Luschek almost completely evaporating in the wake of this realization. Luschek definitely wanted to bone again.

Morello took note of Nichol’s change in mood since breakfast and seemed to light up from somewhere deep within thinking it was due to the prospect of getting dolled up. Nicky didn’t correct her and even let the little brunette play with her appearance a bit before they headed towards the fair, so good was her mood. Behind the scenes of the fair she shared quick quips with Sophia and flirted shamelessly with anyone that wandered into her vicinity, her whole attitude bubbling up to an exaggerated version of what it already was to begin with. She snipped at the smell of the clothes, but still shimmied into a slim pantsuit while Morello managed to find herself a little sailor number. She looked downright risque and Nicky celebrated internally as she felt the desire that had been so loudly absent early spring up with new life. She murmured gravily compliments to make Lorna blush and felt her face start to ache with the force of her smirking. She was in a really good mood.

After throwing on a few strings of fake pearls she deemed herself ready and waited as the rest of the girls dressed, throwing out wolf whistles like they were going out of style until it was time to go on stage. In front of her fellow inmates she flipped her hair arrogantly, dropped it low, and generally acted like classic Nichols, hardly phased when she didn’t win first place in the contest though she wasn’t pleased about having her hair called unkept. She was there to have fun and get out of more work detail where she would have had to see more of Luschek who was absent from this event. She told herself she didn’t mind, staying in rapt conversation with the other losers as they all went back into their regular clothes. After the interview part it was back to the bullshit so she wanted to keep her mind on this for as long as possible.

The results of her survey suggesting she could be a correctional officer put a slight hiccup in her mood. She twisted around in her seat, suddenly feeling a bit caged again as she thought about how ridiculous it was for them to say someone who had been stripped of freedom should go into a career doing the same to others. Looking back on her correctional officers from Mendez to Fischer and all the ones in between she snapped at the visiting personnel, for a moment seeing him as an equally stupid and exceptionally obnoxious electrician who would remain nameless.

Nichols could tell her ticking jaw and rapid fire blinking was putting the man on edge and so reclined back in her seat already knowing she would not be making it to the last leg of the interview process. Fine by her. She watched the others go through their interviews, managing a twitching smile as Morello described the career of a housewife, but for the most part kept to her own mind. She wouldn’t say her mood was totally squashed, but it had definitely been stepped on a bit. There had been a time when a damper like this could be fixed with heroine and another time, more recently, where it could’ve been fixed by a hug from Red.

The thought of her pseudo mother who she’d sold up river only served to bring her down further and before she knew it she was back to feeling foul and grouching to anyone who would listen which really only included Lorna. The tiny Italian mentioned having seen a desolate looking Red during meal time.

“It’s weird to see her without her apron,” she explained with a frown, shaking her curls back and forth in thought. Nicky mumbled her agreement, brows pinched together as the headache she’d managed to champion earlier suddenly came back with avengence. “Like seeing a cop in sweats in ya kitchen after he spends the night with ya sister.”

Nicky had heard this particular anecdote from Morello about a million times and so cut her off before she could begin going into detail about the splooge on the pants. She reminded the little makeup artist that she had to get to work which sent her scurrying down the hall calling rushed goodbyes over her shoulder. Free from the weight of company, Nicky sighed and began to wander towards the laundry room. It’d be empty at this time of day and she really needed somewhere to sit and think. Red’s office was no longer an option and the bunks would still have a few stragglers even though most women had gone to watch the final interview round. She just wanted to be alone for once.

Reaching what she considered to be the underbelly of the prison, Nicky huffed in the smell of bleach and detergent. It was quiet there, unlike usual, and she heaved a great sigh that bounced off the walls and came back to her. The tables were all covered with folded bedding and uniforms and she wasn’t one to lay on the ground so she circled the room listlessly, rolling her neck all around to relieve the tension that had built up in her shoulders without her noticing. She thought about Red and Lorna and heroine and Luschek and sighed again, the sound grounding down into a moan that rattled her chest. Her eyes were closed and her hearing honestly wasn’t the best so she didn’t noticed when someone entered the space with her until they grabbed her arm.

“What’re you doing down here, inmate?”

“Jesus!” Nicky hissed as she jumped away from Luschek, hand flying to her chest in fright, “You nearly gave me a fuckin’ heart attack!”

The correctional officer rolled his eyes, not letting go of her arm as he glanced around the laundry area. They were all alone and he seemed to notice it at the same time she did. Nicky half expected him to jump back like he’d done that morning, throwing all sorts of backhanded insults at her about speaking out about their encounter, but instead he just looked down at her, eyes troubled.

“No one’s here,” he told her, stating the obvious and making her force a laugh.

“Yeah, genius, they’re all still at the job fair.” He still had a hold on her arm and she decided that was the time to remove it with a well aimed smack. He hissed at her, drawing his now red hand away. “I like to spend time alone every once and awhile. You know; find my zen.”

“You don’t find zen, you practice it.”

“What the fuck ever, it’s shot all to shit now,” she grumbled, knocking his shoulder with her own as she moved around him to continue circling the room. The tingles were back and she had to keep moving, the jolts running through her body feeling like the aftershocks of a hit as she tried to put some distance between them. “Why’re you here?”

“Fixing the furnaces.”

Nicky noticed for the first time that it was unusually cold in the room. In the whole prison really as she thought back on the day, paying attention to her body beyond the underlying ache that had yet to be completely killed. She nodded her acceptance, muttering that it was about fucking time as he made towards the rusty old device. At some point he’d gotten himself a vest and hat to ward off the cold and Nicky squinted at the additions to his outfit critically.

Luschek wasn’t beautiful like Morello. Or any woman Nicky had been with since he obviously did not have the feminine features which were typically attributed to defining beauty. If he were to be anything, it’d have to be handsome and Nicky wasn’t even sure if he qualified for that either. She supposed his facial hair was attractive if you were into that sort of thing. And he was broad unlike Caputo or Mendez who were tall and slender. No, Luschek was built like what Nicky considered a pretty typical man; he had some heft. She had no serious complaints about his face, or any part of him really, and so, with an irate huff, admitted silently that he could pass for attractive in some women’s books. Not necessarily hers, but some.

She knew he didn’t like having her at his back while he worked and so made it a point to wander into his space whenever she passed him on her rounds of the room. His annoyed little huffs helped to brighten her spirits a bit and drew her mind away from Red as she worked to see how much she could rile him without them ever actually speaking. When she passed by him a fifth time, crouching there on the ground, she tilted her head just enough so her hair brushed over his shoulders. They were very close at this point. He tensed up and stood, rounding on her with his chest puffed out like he was about to shout at her.

Nicky perked up at the prospect, wanting this, wanting them. Their usual back and forth with a bite of something more that had her eyes twitching energetically as she watched him. Luschek seemed to grow wise, at last, to the fact that the inmate was goading him on and he was falling for it. He deflated as he noticed the predatory slant of her eyes, the way she licked her lips and smiled at him. He flushed and she felt that ache deep down.

“Knock it off, inmate,” he grumbled, shaking himself, “You shouldn’t even be down here.”

“You’re watchin’ me,” Nichols replied with a delicate shrug. She stepped towards him. “I’m not outta bounds...am I?”

It was a double entendre and they both knew it. If he said she was out of bounds, she would have to beat it and their window of opportunity would close along with the promise of something more. They would have the one night to look back on and then their imaginations from then on. Nicky didn’t think she liked the sound of that. However, if he told her she wasn’t out of bounds she could stay. Maybe slip into something more comfortable before he did the same. She snickered at her own cleverness and allowed him time to think. She could see him fighting himself, large hands clenched at his sides.

“Am I outta bounds, Luschek?”

He looked at her. She glared back.

“No.”

The wildcat pounced and was on the prison employee in an instant. Nicky barked a harsh laugh as their teeth ground together, the force of her assault sending Luschek back against the wall. His lips were soft and warm on her dry chapped ones and his beard tickled her face. She kept sniggering into his mouth as she began to paw at his clothes, getting straight down to business while his hands merely roamed her figure. She moaned in impressed appreciation when he switched their positions, turning so that she was pressed against the wall and he was baring down on her. His mouth moved from her lips to her neck and she hiccuped a little gasp. His pants were already undone.

Embarrassingly enough Nicky’s knees were shaking in anticipation of a repeat of the night before and Joel wound up having to hoist her up, pinning her against the wall as her legs created a vice around his waist. They were kissing again, tongues lapping obscenely over each other, as one of his hands began to travel into her pants. The other was buried in her mountain of hair and she growled whenever he gave it a particular firm tug. He managed to wiggle the other one into her waistband, moaning into her mouth when he discovered she wasn’t wearing any underwear, and immediately started rubbing a harsh pattern into her clit that had her cursing against his cheek.

“Fuck.”

His own oath was lost in her hair as he removed them from the wall and set Nicky down, pulling his hand away much to her displeasure as the heat that had begun to pool in her belly fled. It didn’t last though as he yanked her towards the table and swept an arm across the laundry piles, sending sheets and blankets and pillow cases tumbling to the floor. The inmate was ready to tease him about his flair for the dramatic, but found herself in surprised silence when instead of hoisting her up onto the table as he had the night before, he lowered her down to the impromptu bed he had created on the floor. Her back found the soft warmth of the laundry pile and she admitted this was much better as he came down on top of her.

They were pretty much panting into each other’s mouths as Luschek fumbled to get her pants all the way off, tossing them carelessly over his shoulder as he spread her legs by the knees. Nicky was trembling all over, but still struggled to retain an air of control as she dragged him up to her by the collar of his shirt. She knocked his hat off.

“No foreplay,” she growled, teeth grinding as she pushed his pants and boxers down to his thighs, “I’ve been waiting all fucking day for this.”

He nodded, eyes suddenly resembling her own as he found a singular focus for his actions. He wanted her. Propping himself up with a hand on either side of her head, he positioned himself right at her dripping entrance and waited for her ankles to hook around his back before pushing in. It was slower than the first time and Nicky groaned deep and guttural as he moved inch by torturous inch into her. She tossed her head back, hair flying everywhere as she panted loudly with pleasure, an evil smile curving her lips. It had been so easy to sway him.

Joel grunted in reply to her noises as he began to pump in and out, immediately setting a pace only slightly slower than the last. If Nicky had to guess she would say he wanted this to last longer and she was perfectly okay with that. Sitting up on one elbow she huffed as he fucked her, each thrust of his hips rocking her back a bit. This new position put them nearly chest to chest. She tried to keep quiet, the chances of getting caught this time far higher than they had been last time, but couldn’t help but let loose a few sincere whines when he hit a particularly good spot that fingers simply couldn’t reach.

“Jesus, why does this feel so good?” he huffed over her shoulder, face turned slightly away from her as he moved. Nichols hummed her agreement, reaching out with her free arm to tug his hips more forcefully into her on every thrust. They both swore again.

Luschek had just been sliding a hand down her front, no doubt on a path towards her mound, when he suddenly froze. Nicky grouched an immediate protest, her hips automatically jerking for the return of friction, but Luschek clamped a hand over her mouth. His eyes were open now, his head cocked to the side as he sat up slightly, still insider her. But she could hear it now too. Footsteps.

The correctional officer pulled out of her abruptly and swore a string of curses so profane that Nicky blinked up at him in mild shock, watching him run around like a chicken with its dick cut off as he tried to gather all their shit together. Nicky knew it was pointless and so instead just stood, bare ass hanging out the bottom of her shirt, grabbed his arm, and shuffled them quickly to a supply closet in the back of the room. He whisper-shouted protests the whole way there but ultimately let her shove him in when they heard voices just outside the entrance. Their door clicked shut just as the other was pushed open.

“Where is that lazy fuck?” Caputo sighed agitatedly coming into the laundry room. The closet was dark and Nicky couldn’t see Luschek’s face, but heard as he let out a feminine gasp. The inmate elbowed him in what she thought may be his stomach. “He was supposed to go get me a space heater and come back.”

“I thought for sure I saw him come down here,” a small, distinctly feminine voice mused, and Nicky wanted to fucking kill Luschek as he let out a low groan from within their hiding space. “Maybe he went on lunch?”

“No one gets lunch until I say they get lunch,” Caputo told Fischer with a huff before going on to complain about how the junkies had left the laundry room an absolute mess. “I mean look at this, sheets and shit all over the floor, a pair of pants under the table? Jesus.”

The two Litchfield personnel lingered for only a bit longer, pondering where the electrician could be, before they made their exit. Nicky waited in the dark with Luschek, listening as their voices faded out into nothingness, before she cracked the supply closet door open. She’d planned on merely taking a cautionary peek, but Joel thundered out of the tiny space like the proverbial bull in a China shop as he cursed and grouched his way across the room, fixing his clothes as he went. Nicky watched him have his usual tiny meltdown, eyes slit in irritation at not getting off as he began to berate himself.

“I’m such a fucking idiot,” he moaned for the hundredth time, dragging his hands roughly down his face, “I’m such a stupid fucking idiot!” Nicky was inclined to agree, but felt it wasn’t the time to tease the CO as he began trying to pile the laundry back on the table in some semblance of order. Her body hummed with need but his erection had long since gone and she bemoaned a hard dick wasted. When Luschek finally seemed to realise she was still there, watching him with crossed arms, he blanched and told her to put some pants on.

“Why?” She shrugged. “It’s nothin’ you haven’t seen before.”

“Oh, God _DAMNIT_!”

“Hey!” Nichols hissed, finally dropping her blase attitude at his shout. She hadn’t been seriously worried about being caught before, she’d hid in that closet plenty of times, but if Joel kicked up a fuss now the jig would be up. “Shut the fuck up, you wanna bring ‘em back here?!”

“That was my boss and my _girlfriend_ that almost just caught us fucking,” he barked angrily, clearly upset.

“You’re shittin’ me,” she scoffed cruelly, feeling a tiny twinge of _something_ when he said girlfriend but chalking it up to shock that someone like Fischer would let someone like Luschek into her pants. Seemed more like a Nicky move, not so much a Susan move.

“This can’t happen again,” the electrician stated vehemently. At Nicky’s raised eyebrows he pressed, “I’m serious, Nicky, I could get in a lot of trouble!”

“Oh, come on, Joel-”

“No!” he cut across her, looking shaken and maybe a tiny bit disgusted. The former addict didn’t examine her feelings on that too closely. “Stay away from me, Nichols."

With that he stormed out of the laundry room, tools and hat forgotten in his haste. Nicky watched him go, nether regions started to get chilly the longer they were exposed to the open air. Her inner thighs were still slick, but it was drying and getting uncomfortably sticky as her whole body began to cool down. She ticked her jaw agitatedly, the tingling itch coming back along with a bitter taste in her mouth as she scowled at the spot Luschek had just been in. Going over the last twenty-four hours in her head she scoffed at what her life had become since coming to Litchfield. Snatching up her pants, she dressed and left.


	4. Like Shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, I think...we should talk,” he offered lowly, “Got a minute?”
> 
> “For you?” she teased, “All night.”

Luschek groaned a noncommittal greeting in response to Bennett wishing him good morning. The thermos he clutched in one meaty fist contained a reverse Irish coffee (2 parts coffee to 4 parts whiskey) and he really didn’t feel like wasting time that could be spent drinking it conversing with his coworkers. Especially Bubbly Bennett who was always walking around like he had some poorly kept secret he couldn’t wait to blather on about. Joel couldn’t even begin to imagine what the CO had to be so happy about in a place like Litchfield, but he knew he wanted no part of it. Alcohol, not socializing, would surely get him through the morning as it had with the last several mornings that would have been too numerous to recall if Joel hadn’t been keeping count.

Four weeks.

It had been exactly four weeks since he’d been balls deep in Nichols.

He felt like shit.

As he stomped through the halls towards his office he coughed into his free hand before rubbing it roughly down the back of his neck. His hair was disheveled as per usual and it was likely his uniform wouldn’t even pass the sniff test if he tried it. Susan had made an offhanded inquiry a few days back about the state of his washing machine, but when all he could think about was burying himself into that feisty pain in the ass, it got hard to focus on shit like laundry. He didn’t know why he wanted Nicky so bad, but he did. Despite how adamant he had been about her keeping her distance, every day that she did just that seemed to step on his nerves a bit more.

After their little tryst in the laundry room he had avoided the wild haired inmate like the plague, probably making a complete ass of himself every time he entered a room only to backpedal out if he saw her propping up a wall in there. For her part, Nicky had surprisingly taken his demands to heart and never made any attempts to lure him some place quiet and lonely, or even make conversation with him. She still made a spectacle of herself during work detail, more boisterous than ever after her little pal, Chapman, finally returned, but she no longer played her character off of his own. She regarded him with the same lukewarm indifference Joel had watched her dish out to every CO but him for years. And even though that was exactly what he had asked her to do, it had started to grind his gears.

For the first two weeks after his little indiscretion he had tried to remind himself of all the reasons getting involved with an inmate was a bad idea. There were several; the risk to his job, the risk to his health, the risk to his relationship, the risk to his sanity. However, after catching Nichols falling out of a supply closet with another inmate, eyes dancing and lips slick with moisture, all his reasons started to sound like bullshit even to him. He rationalized internally that he didn’t want to get involved with Nicky. He just wanted to fuck her.

Again.

And again.

After two weeks he’d started dreaming about grabbing her by that ridiculous hair. Of pulling her into an empty room, or closet, or corner and taking her hard and fast, pounding into her, watching her face flush and her shark-like eyes roll back, hammering, until he felt her walls clenching around him and…

He felt like shit.

He felt somehow inexplicably cheated by his own traitorous body as, after the dreams started, he began sporting halfies every time Nichols entered electrical. He couldn’t escape her there, during work, but some days she wouldn’t even need to be in the same room. Mornings after a particularly vivid dream he could just hear her grating laugh from around a corner and suddenly be ready to go. The number of times he’d taken his cock into his own hand over the 4 weeks would have been staggering enough, but the number of times it happened at work was the true shocker. Joel didn’t want to think about what the underside of his desk must look like.

Fischer didn’t help.

Since the beginning of their so called relationship Susan had been pretty shy about taking it into the bedroom. Luschek had only seen her naked a handful of times and had actually gotten to do anything about that nakedness on even fewer occasions. The sex they had was halting and awkward and usually ended with him insisting it was fine that she wanted to stop, he didn’t need to finish, and could she excuse him while he went to the bathroom real quick? The decorative hand towel in her bathroom was nearly as bad as his desk. 

Joel had to accept some responsibility for the dwindling, or perhaps complete lack, of a flame in his sex life with the pretty rookie though. There had been a time not even that long ago where just the sight of her, all soft skin and softer hair, would have made him eager for even the shy kisses she deemed acceptable to end their nights. Susan was attractive in all the ways Joel had been conditioned to appreciate. She was slender and tall with eyes almost too big for her face and when she smiled at you, through perfect cupid’s bow lips, it really did make you feel like you were the most important person in the room to her at that moment.

But she wasn’t sexy. 

Or feisty. 

She didn’t make lewd jokes or wear an ostentatious amount of black eyeliner and she didn’t have a mane of wild hair that he could use as leverage to yank her back into him as he drilled her again and again and…

He felt like shit.

Four weeks after his little indiscretion he could see his relationship with Fischer falling apart and at no point had it been more obvious than the previous night. Susan had gone over to his humble abode, game as usual to start the night however he saw fit. There had been TV dinners and crap TV to go with it and then Joel had let his arm fall across her slender shoulders. She’d allowed it and he’d leaned in for more. If he were being honest it had been even longer than four weeks since he had made a legitimate move on Susan since she never seemed to be in the mood. However, the previous night he felt he had to try because during an on-the-clock nap he’d had such a raunchy dream about Nichols that he’d nearly finished in his sleep. He’d carried that load around with him all day and just wanted to spend on something besides a towel for once.

Susan, oddly enough, had seemed game for that as well and the two had relocated to the bedroom. He’d known he was rushing a bit, so eager to actually have sex with a chance of finishing, and tried to communicate with Fischer to get her on his level. She’d returned the kisses, given no protest to the quick way he undressed them both, and even stayed quiet as he rolled her as gently as he was able onto her stomach. Of course he saw that she wasn’t really responding, but she hadn’t pushed him away either and so he continued, stroking her back and muttering absolutely filthy things into her ear as he slid her panties down.

It wasn’t until he positioned himself, hard and ready and condom donned, at her entrance and pushed in that he stopped. Her whole body had jerked at the intrusion and she’d given muffled grunt of what could only be pain. And he could see why. She had been completely dry, not even an ounce of moisture to ease him in. She hadn’t been enjoying herself at all.

He’d sighed low down in his chest, erection already fleeing the scene as he slipped out of her and moved away, allowing her space to roll over. Her face had been open and honest as usual and he could see a sort of pitying apology there. She’d suggested some foreplay or lube to get the party going, but he’d just waved her off. They’d redressed awkwardly and returned to the living room where the television was still showing an old episode of Judy King at Home. They’d watched it silently for a bit and then Susan had gone home, dropping a dry kiss to Joel’s cheek as she left.

That experience and four weeks of torture were why that morning Joel Luschek finally decided he’d had enough. Nicky may be an inmate and a junky and general pain in his ass, but at least she seemed to want him. At least her body singed with pleasure whenever he did fuck up and end up with her legs around his waist. At least she laughed and goaded him on between bouts of moaning into his ear so loud the sound was still echoing with him weeks later. At least with Nicky he could get off.

He went through his morning routine at the prison robotically, snapping at inmates on an apparent schedule and trading mild banter with the likes of O’Neill and others. He kept his eyes wide open and trained on the door to catch a glimpse of every woman that came in and out even though he knew exactly when Nichols was scheduled to arrive. And arrive she did, happy and animated as ever, boasting about something inappropriate at a completely too loud volume as she made her way to her usual spot. It sounded like she was recounting some sort of sexcapade and Joel’s dick gave an interested little jerk at her descriptions.

He blundered the orders for the day and released them all, eyes making a valiant effort to not remain trained on Nicky throughout. She stared at him straight in the face the whole, hip cocked and hair tumbling over her shoulder like she always did. When he was done she went to her usual spot and he followed, growling at newts that dared to scamper into his path as he made his way over. Her back was to him and she was chipping away at the wall much like she’d been chipping away at his sanity and when he cleared his throat to draw her attention she didn’t even glance over her shoulder.

“What can I do ya for, Luschek?” 

“I-”

“Sorry I’m late.”

Luschek jumped at the voice that had appeared right by his shoulder. He and Nicky both turned to see none other than Chapman standing there looking even more like she was on her period than usual. He figured her new neon orange uniform might be washing her out a bit as Nichols beamed, full cheeks stretching wide as she welcomed Piper back to work and asked why she looked so glum. Joel cursed internally, backing away as the blonde began to bitch about some old blanket, and returned to his desk. He watched the two women from afar but Chapman never strayed from her friend’s side, sallow face looking distressed as she continued to lament the loss of her things, and Luschek cursed her too. By the time their stint with him was up, he still hadn’t spoken to Nichols and he had a hard on that could cut a diamond. He cursed Chapman all through his second lunch break.

The day dragged on painfully slow after that. He rubbed one out in a CO bathroom after a very detailed fantasy of bending Nicky over a workbench as she cooed she’d do anything to not get a shot. He had an encore performance after going to hunt her down only to overhear a conversation between her and some big dike about orgasms. By near the end of the day he was pretty spent and he still hadn’t spoken to Nicky. He was getting ready to clock out when he decided to go out on a slightly precarious limb in a last ditch effort to bend the wildcat’s ear.

“Hey, Morello, you seen Nichols?”

The little Italian looked up at him with eyes nearly as big as Fischer’s. Her somehow perfectly styled brunette curls swayed around her pretty face as she tilted her head in thought. Joel had never really talked to Nichols’ shadow before, but she didn’t seem to find his question odd or suspicious which was why he had picked her to go to. She always knew where to find Nicky, but never seemed to really think anything through.

“Ummm,” she mused, voice grating as she fanned her hands out, “I think she went to the chapel, Mr. Luschek. Had something she wanted to get off her mind.”

If Joel had any sudden worries that Nicky was secretly a Jesus freak, Morello’s sly smirk quickly put them to rest. Whatever Nichols had gone to the chapel for, it wasn’t for anything religious. He thanked the inmate and let her continue on her way, having nearly body checked her into a wall in order to speak covertly with her. She smiled benignly and pranced away, conversation probably already far from her mind. Luschek shook his head and made a beeline for the chapel.

When he pushed the heavy doors open and walked in he was met with a small shock. While he hadn’t really expected Nicky to be sat in a pew waiting to hear the word of God, he hadn’t expected her to be up at the altar like she was about to deliver it either. Sunlight coming in from the window behind her caught the individual strands of her hair and made her look like a lion from hell as she looked up and caught his eye. The comparison was fitting since the smile she sent his way was nothing short of predatory as he cleared his throat and stepped closer.

“What can I do ya for, Luschek?” she breathed, her voice sounding damp and strained like she’d just run a marathon. She looked as if she had as well, clad only in her undershirt from the waist up. Her bottom half was hidden from him, but she had a light sheen of sweat across her brow.

“Well, I think...we should talk,” he offered lowly, brow furrowed as he watched her body shiver and jerk at odd intervals while she watched him, mouth slightly parted. “Got a minute?”

“For you?” she teased, arm that she wasn’t using to prop herself up flexing somewhere beneath the altar, “All night.”

“Right...well,” he cleared his throat to buy time. Her eyes were fluttering at him almost prettily and as she licked her lips, a strange noise falling from her mouth, he wondered what the hell was going on behind that altar. “Nichols what-...are you...are you mastur-?!”

His question was cut off when suddenly Nicky slammed the wood she leaned against with her free hand, head falling back as she moaned. Joel jumped in surprise from the noise and from the fact his dick had just come to painfully full attention right against his zipper. Nicky continued her little show, gripping the podium as she moaned and cursed and rocked her hips against something, driving Luschek absolutely insane as she managed to pick her head up and look him directly in his eyes.

“Fuck!”

That did it.

That word, barked out in a way almost identical to their first night together, let Luschek know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the inmate was experiencing an orgasm right then and there in front of him and God and the empty pews. His throat felt like he hadn’t had a sip of water in years. His stomach was all in knots. Speechless, he reached down thoughtlessly and gripped himself through his trousers ready to stroke himself to a weak third climax of the day when suddenly Nichols stepped back from the altar on shaky legs.

And a tiny Asian woman fell out from behind it.

Luschek nearly had a fucking heart attack as the girl scrambled for her clothes, thin arms folded over her breasts self consciously as she spewed a veritable explosion of apologies, young face apple red from embarrassment. The CO at least had the clarity of mind to release his throbbing erection, but besides that he could only watch in shock as the naked woman ran by him, calling back more apologies and a promise to Nicky to talk later. The chapel door slamming behind him felt like a bucket of icewater being poured down his pants.

“What...THE FUCK?!”

Nichols, who had merely watched her latest conquest flee the scene impassively while trying to catch her breath, raised a brow at her boss, still naked from the waist down.

“What?” she said innocently, “She’s worth alotta points.”

“WHAT?!” Joel felt like he may be losing his mind. It was a serious possibility. Nicky merely huffed, snatching her discarded pants off the floor as she approached the CO casual as can be.

“Oh, calm down,” she grouched, tripping into the scrubs, “Nothin’ you shouldn’t have expected.”

He wanted to argue with her. Wanted to throw her reputation back in her face and call her a gross slut and a junky too boot, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. Because if she was a slut and a junky then he was the guy chasing a slut and a junky. And he didn’t want to be that guy. He just wanted to be the guy that occasionally got to fuck this wildcat into a wall and then go home and get back some of the sleep he’d been missing out on for four weeks. Looking at her then, Luschek realized for the first time that for this to work he was going to have to start being nice to Nichols. Because it was obvious she could get her proverbial rocks off anywhere at anytime and with anyone one, but Joel couldn’t even get his fucking girlfriend wet anymore. He needed Nichols and the realization was such a punch in the gut that he actually had to sit down.

“Hey? You still with us, Major Tom?”

Luschek let out a hysterical kind of chuckle because if Nicky was his ground control he was in big fucking trouble. His head was starting to ache and he rubbed it roughly as he heard Nicky lower herself into the pew beside him. He sighed heavily.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Shoot.” If Nicky felt any shame about being caught in the middle of a sexual encounter by a previous partner who also had the power to deliver her a harsh punishment she played it off well. She slouched beside Luschek, elbows leaned over the back of their seats and legs spread wide taking up as much space as possible.

“Right...well...a few weeks ago...we…”

“Fucked?” She was looking him straight in the face again. Or at least the side of the face as he avoided her eye.

“That, yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I was thinking...maybe...wedoitagainsometime.”

The last bit came out in a breathy rush and Nicky’s hair bounced as she perked up a bit clearly having caught the gist despite his best efforts. If her pose had been confident before, now it was straight up cocky as she leaned even further back and eyed her CO up and down hungrily. Joel put his head in his hand, migraine in full swing now but dick also back to full sail. Nicky took notice.

“You got an itch you need scratched, Joel?” she all but hissed, sharp teeth gleaming in the light.

“Stop fucking around, Nicky,” he snapped at her, about done with the games. She blinked at him. “We both enjoyed it and could go again.”

“So?”

“So stop making me pull teeth to get it!”

“It’s not like you asked for it!”

“I’m asking now!”

“And I’m saying yes, you fucktard!” He finally turned to face her and saw she had gone from playfully teasing to hungrily stalking. There was a tick in her jaw as she blinked rapid fire at him and she leaned in close then, the smell of her still thick from what he had walked in on. “You wanna fuck me, then fuck me, but I’m not gonna play your little panic attack game after every stroll through the goddamn park so make up your fuckin’ mind, Joel.”

It was a reasonable enough demand, but it still gave him pause. She wasn’t wrong, he did have a history of freaking out immediately after they finished their business, but he figured it was because at those times he was still in some serious denial about what he wanted. Not that he even wanted Nichols because that implied something a little deeper than what he felt they had going for them. He didn’t want Nichols, per say, but he wanted certain things about her. Her aggressiveness, her rudeness, her tightness.

He was so fucking hard.

“I’m in,” he sighed, throwing every last shred of dignity to the wind as he moved in on her. Fuck the job, fuck Susan, fuck diseases, he needed this. And he was so close to having it when she suddenly put her hand up. “Oh come on!”

His exclamation was only half biting as he saw the way her pupils were blown to kingdom come as she stared him down. She wanted this too.

“Rules,” she rasped. “We need some fucking rules.”

“Ugh, fine!” Luschek sat back, dick pointed to the ceiling as he thought. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“Obviously,” she spat, cinnamon eyes glaring at him heatedly. “You can’t give me any shots.”

“If you do something fucked up, I gotta give you a shot,” he argued, eyes rolling dramatically. “If I don’t it’ll be suspicious!”

“Fine,” she grumbled, hand slipping down into her pants. Luschek thumped his head on the pew. “But stop threatening to send to to max! We both know you can’t anyway.”

“Fine.” He watched the motion of her hand beneath her pants.

“And no keeping me from doing my own thing away from you.” The end of her statement was punctuated by a little gasp as she apparently tickled over something interesting and Joel barely caught what she’d said.

“Huh? What?”

“Like no cock blockin’ me with other inmates,” she clarified, “I’ve got a competition going with Boo and if you walk in and interrupt every play date I bring into places like this you’re gonna be fucking me in more ways than one.”

“Don’t get in the way of your sexathon, got it.” He inched his own hand towards her experimentally and when she didn’t protest let it slide in beside her own. He could’ve cried at how warm and wet she felt.

“Good,” she panted, head falling back as he took over, “Cause it’s not like I’m gonna get in the way of you and Fischer.”

Another hysterical little chuckle.

“I haven’t wanted Fischer since…”

He’d said too much.

Nichols head picked up and she eyed him critically, but he ignored it. Instead he focused his free hand on beginning the task of removing his belt.

“Any more rules?”

“No getting jealous.”

“Should be easy enough.”

“I know you got jealous of Lorna.”

He ignored her. Because she was right; he had gotten jealous of Lorna. But getting jealous of what Lorna had with Nicky was so different than if he would have gotten jealous of that Asian girl, or any other inmate that would become a notch on Nicky’s belt. She fucked around, he’d just seen that and it didn’t bother him. But with Lorna she had something else. She had inside jokes and soft smiles and gentle touches and someone that always knew where to find you. He couldn’t be jealous of that. He shouldn’t be jealous of that. He didn’t want Nichols. 

“Anything else?”

“Don’t go fallin’ in love with me.”

“Get the fuck over yourself, Nichols,” he grouched, kicking his pants off and away as she did the same, her sharp teeth gleaming in the light.

“How about you get over me instead,” she suggested, huffing out a rasping laugh as he grabbed onto her hair roughly and turned her over. Kneeling behind her on the pew, her wild locks partially tamed within his fist, he rammed into her enthusiastically, reveling in the hot and heavy noises she made in response. It was even better than his fantasies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long since I updated, but I'm literally graduating with my BS (ha!) in 3 weeks. I've been busy!


	5. Another Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She trusted Luschek?
> 
> It sounded stupid even in the privacy of her own fucked up brain.

“All the girls must want to have sex.”

“Yes, Chang, we know. It’s not a rape contest.”

Boo’s light admonishment of the commissary worker made Nicky chuckle as Piper took a seat beside her and asked what kind of contest they were doing. The wild haired inmate explained it as briefly as she could so that Chang could get back to listing out the rules. After a quick dig at Boo’s affinity for canine companions she truly settled down to listen and think.

For nearly a month she had been fucking Joel Luschek, of all people, in the dusty closets and empty hallways of Litchfield Penitentiary. They’d do their usual back and forth during work hours and then when it was lights out, or the middle of a busy lunch where no one would miss them they could be found going at it like rabbits on some unlucky jerk’s empty desk chair. It wasn’t just a one off in an office followed by a swing and a miss in the laundry room anymore. It was a pattern. Nicky getting fucked by Luschek was a pattern. And she was pretty alright with that if she had to admit it to herself.

“Do the girls have to cum for it to count?”

“An excellent question.”

“Have to?” Boo chided, as if correcting a child’s incorrect assumption that dessert always came after dinner. Nicky frowned at her. “Son, with me, they always cum?”

“Just once?” Nicky shot back, wide eyes looking all over her competitor’s face for a crack in her undeniably strong, butch armor. “That’s so sad.”

The inmate still attended to the ladies on the side of course --like she told Chang, she was the queen of excess-- but rolling around the proverbial hay with the CO had become a sort of highlight in her usual routine. The routine of waking up, putzing around, eating pussy, and going to sleep. Now, at any moment, slid in between those activities could be Joel sliding into her. The secrecy of it all turned her on almost as much as the electrician insisting on going down town before nearly every encounter. No one, not even Lorna, knew what she was getting up to when everyone’s backs were turned.

She was honestly a little wet just thinking about it.

There were, obviously, a million differences between being with the women of Litchfield and being with the correctional officer. First and most obvious, penetration was something she hadn’t experienced on this level (a non-finger level) since she was but a girl. She’d never bothered with strap-ons; date a dude if you’re so cock hungry. But now she could see what people were always on about. Getting filled and stretched by Luschek was a new kind of high that just kept getting better the more times she hit it. Or let him hit it. It was like with every performance her body was getting more in tune with his; more ready to open up and receive. Made the whole penetration thing pretty fantastic.

Another difference that she hadn’t counted on liking so much was the size difference between Luschek and women she had been with. Nicky definitely had a type. She liked small girls like Lorna. Petite and cute and always literally looking up to her. Even taller girls that were thin and wispy like Soso got her engine purring. Just that feeling that she was the stronger one, she was doing the fucking, she was in charge. It did a lot for her ego to tell the truth and so she hadn’t been expecting to like the way Luschek dwarfed her. He was taller and wider; heavier and stronger. When he held her arms down above her head, they weren’t going anywhere. When he pushed and pulled her body into position, she wasn’t humoring him by going along, he was really moving her. Luschek dominated her and she really, really liked it.

She was honestly really wet just thinking about it.

She focused back in on the conversation.

“I don’t wanna play the game; don’t put me in that!” Piper insisted after Chang turned the carefully crafted score sheet to face her. Nicky smirked. The commissary worker’s drawing was actually pretty spot on. “Three outta what?”

“Ten.”

“Ten’s like a guard,” Nicky clarified, not wanting her friend to feel like she was towards the bottom of the barrel. She even pointed out a clear one to raise Piper’s spirits. However, the game wasn’t just about looks, it was about difficulty. About who could resist the charms of the two most sexually active prisoners in Litchfield longest. Chapman, upon discussion, didn’t seem to have the self esteem that would place her too far up there.

“I am so much more than a three,” the blonde went on in classic Piper fashion, “I am not easy.”

“You’re slutty, not easy. There’s a difference semantically.”

“Yeah, you’re not easy,” Boo butt in coolly, “You just fucked your worst enemy.”

“Alex was not my enemy at the time.”

Nichols tuned-out, not interested in hearing more than she already had of the two women’s tangled affair. She liked Chapman, maybe even loved her a little, and she’d been sort of friends with Vause for a while now. The fact that she’d gotten to gift the inky haired amazon with an orgasm for Secret Santa wasn’t bad either. All that being said, the former junky had had about enough of the two women dancing around each other; acting like they hated each other one moment and whispering sweet nothings the next. It was a dynamic she could never truly understand except to reason that they both kind of sucked in their own special ways.

Nicky couldn’t imagine having such a calamitous dynamic with a lover. For a junky, she valued consistency and dependability quite a bit. If she had thought Lorna was going to turn around and get her sent to max on a whim, or abandon her to finish out an extended sentence alone, she never could have carried on with the tiny Italian. A relationship without trust, even a purely sexual one, was not a relationship to be in. Too unhealthy. 

Worse than drugs.

Worse than anything.

She trusted Luschek.

The ridiculous thought didn’t even have time to send her eyelids flickering before it was being interrupted by another joining them at the table. All present eyed Pennsatucky critically as she sat, new teeth flashing behind thin, cracked lips. Nicky had never really liked the janky toothed sprite, and her dogged pursuit of Chapman’s misery in the old year hadn’t sweetened her image any. Doggett blinked at all of them, bug-eyed and oblivious. 

“What y’all playin?” the brunette asked, propped up on her elbows. Boo scoffed through her nose, eyes narrow and unwelcoming.

“Nothin’.”

“A game as old as time,” Nicky offered up instead, wanting to see if the hick would take the bait. 

“Oh yeah?” she inquired in her rasping tone, focused in on the wildcat now. “What’s it called?”

“Exclusion.”

“Cool! How do you play?”

Boo snorted, Nicky huffed, Piper looked troubled, and Chang continued to perfect the score sheet, but none of them answered Doggett. If they did that would defeat the purpose of the game and how, Nicky wondered internally, was the little whelp ever going to learn to play then? She turned back to her meal, perfectly alright with coming off as a stone cold bitch if it meant Pennsafucky finally realized where she could shove it. The others followed her example until, dejectedly, the former religious zealot slunk away.

The chatter that followed her exit wasn’t enough to keep Nicky tied in. It was something about an issue in the Spanish Harlem bathroom. She flit her eyes back and forth between moving mouths, but didn’t truly listen or contribute to the conversation in any way. Instead she let her mind focus in on the thought she’d had just before Doggett had interrupted them.

She trusted Luschek?

It sounded stupid even in the privacy of her own fucked up brain. The man was an absolute mess of a human being with no direction, no motivation, and no obvious loyalty to anyone besides himself. Even Nicky, a former heroin addict, could claim to be a trustworthy sort based on her relationships with her fellow inmates. She had people’s backs. Lorna, Red, Piper, Vause, even Boo could depend on her if they were really in a bind. Tricia, God rest her, could have asked Nicky for anything and she’d have done her best to deliver. Meanwhile, just the night before she’d asked Luschek to bum a smoke and he’d casually told her to get bent while stroking himself to readiness.

She couldn’t trust Luschek.

That sort of blind faith in a partner purely because they made you see stars when you boned would lead to her crying girlishly from behind the bars of a whole new prison like a certain blonde that now had to count herself lucky just to be in Litchfield again. No, Joel Luschek could not be trusted for anything other than an orgasm and Nicky Nichols was never going to trust him for anything other than an orgasm. Their biting dynamic worked for her in a way it didn’t with most women and she didn’t want to fuck it up with things as stupid as feelings.

Trust was a feeling after all.

When breakfast was called and it was time for work she shook hands with Boo, wishing her good luck in their competition. Piper moaned once more that she deserved a higher score, but settled down when Chang suggested she could get one by actually participating. Their little group split up, each of them heading off to their work detail, only Piper and Nicky getting to stick together on the way to electrical.

The wildcat let her newest friend prattle on as they made their way through the halls, seemingly never running out of things to say. Alex was a devil, the prison was a sham, Larry was a coward, and life wasn’t fair. Nicky watched her go, amazed one person could be so self-involved while simultaneously being so self-unaware. Chapman surely could have talked until she was blue in the face, but right as they were about to round their last corner to work CO Maxwell stopped them short.

“Chapman,” she called, waving her hand for the white woman to follow, “Your mother and brother are here to see you.”

Piper followed immediately, barely sparing Nicky a glance as she told no one in particular that she hadn’t been expecting a visit today. Nicky watched her go, wondering what it must feel like to have your mother come visit. She shrugged the notion away, content with never knowing, and continued on to electrical partially glad Piper wouldn’t have the chance to cock block her today.

Joel picked his head up when she walked in, appearing to have been in the middle of some depraved doodle across one manual or another. The other workers were already spread out across the room, working on pointless tasks that had been set before them. Clear busy work that didn’t offer the chance at a quick fix while also not requiring the electrician to get directly involved. She smirked at him across the room. He could be clever when he wanted.

“You’re late, Nichols,” he chided, glancing around the room as if to make sure everyone had heard him reprimand her. No one gave him a second look.

“No I’m not,” she laughed, tossing her hair and not taking her eyes off him as she made her way towards the tool crib. He looked a little sweaty. “Chapman got visitation. Won’t be comin’ in.”

“Well, then you can pick up her slack.”

“Whatever you say, boss.”

Luschek jumped on her opening. This was like their code. The speed at which the electrician vacated his desk and moved towards Nicky would have been impressive if it weren’t so obvious. Watson, growing impatient behind the cage to hand Nicky her tool and chit, eyed their CO suspiciously as he grasped Nichols by her upper arm and steered her towards the outside door. Other newts lifted their eyes briefly to see what the fuss was about and were met with Nicky’s arrogant stride and head shakes telling them to mind their business, nothing to see here. Luschek barely remembered to tell O’Neill to keep an eye on things before they were outside, gasping in the still fairly brisk air.

“What’sa matter, Joel?” the inmate purred immediately, pressing closer into the man’s space now that they were semi-alone. “Miss me?”

Luschek, as per usual, refused to acknowledge her as hilarious and merely grunted at her to shut up as he shuffled them along away from the yard. Out there a few women huddled around in prison issue coats and didn’t seem to notice the two figures in the distance slinking along the building’s edge. Nicky kept close to the CO both because he still had her arm in his grip and because she hadn’t donned a jacket before heading to breakfast or grabbed one on the way to work.

“I should really get more than 11 cents an hour for this,” she chattered as they reached a cosy spot of empty corners and tall walls that didn’t have anyone milling around too close for comfort. They’d come to this spot a few times before, once nearly interrupting a special meeting between CO Bennett and Daya, and had found it was blind to any cameras, blocked wind, and had no especially busy rooms on the opposite sides of the walls. A perfect spot.

“Oh please, if anyone, you should be paying me,” Joel scoffed, finally releasing her to choose a good position. She chose to lean against the wall even though the brick chilled her back, barking out a harsh laugh at his poor excuse for a joke as he removed his hat and shoved it into his jacket pocket. Already his erection could be seen through his slacks and Nicky felt her knees quiver a bit.

Over the last few weeks she’d learned a lot about her boss sexually. For one he was a grower, not a shower. But once it got a chance to grow there was no hope that it wouldn’t show. Luschek was pretty impressively endowed, not that she had too many frames of reference, and liked to put every boner to good use. Waste not want not.

He didn’t mind her bush any, was okay with her sitting on his face, and seemed to be one of those rare men from lore that got off on seeing his partner get off. Their encounters were never just him thrusting in with little to no foreplay, seeking his own pleasure over her own. They always started with kisses, oddly enough. With filthy promises panted into her neck and a large hand sliding down into pants and underwear as they both stared dumbly over each other’s shoulders like they were doing then.

“So,” she breathed, her prison issue panties already soaked through by the time his fingers inched their way in, “How’s your day?”

“Oh, great,” he sniped, petting her in circles that grew firmer with every passing until her breath hitched at each turn. He kicked her legs slightly further apart. “Got to carpool to work with my girlfriend then kissed her goodbye and met up with my mistress.”

“I’m your mistress?” the inmate huffed, her laugh getting cut off when one of Luschek’s fingers finally breached her entrance and slid in two knuckles deep. She keened low back in her throat as he used his free hand to pull her against his chest, back no longer shivering against the wall, and stroke at her hair.

That was another thing she had learned about him.

He was fucking obsessed with her hair.

“Seems like it.”

Another finger joined the first.

“God,” she moaned into his shoulder, eyes barely staying open as her jaw went slack. His fingers were so much bigger than a woman’s. “Your life is fuckin’ sad.”

“Shut up, Nicky,” he huffed before yanking her head back and smashing his lips down onto hers. She didn’t whimper, because Nicky Nichols didn’t whimper, but some noise fell out of her as he crooked his fingers and pulled them up as if trying to lift her by the crotch. His erection was grinding into her hip bone.

“Fuck, Luschek.”

It usually lasted longer than this. The foreplay. But they were both apparently in a mood this morning and Luschek quickly withdrew his hand to start yanking at his belt. Nicky shimmied out of her pants and underwear, kicking them away and choosing to leave her shirt on. They’d come here before after all and Nichols wasn’t begging for any more scrapes and bruises across her back. The frigid air hit her slick folds and she shivered. Joel crowded her back, dick out and dripping.

“Jesus, it’s been too long since I fucked you,” he confided, voice low and gravelly the way it got when he was horny. Another thing she had learned.

“It’s been like 12 hours,” she teased breathlessly, lifting her leg so he could grab it under the knee, propping them both against the wall. She was spread out for him now, shivering all over.

“Too long,” he replied as he slid into her. At the same time he swallowed up her string of profanities in a kiss so hot she felt another wave of arousal wash over her just as he bottomed out.

After that it was like any other number of times they’d found themselves in this position. Thrusting and grunting and egging each other on with sighs and hands fisted in clothes. Sometimes they talked; challenging each other to go faster, harder. Sometimes they didn’t, instead focusing on the feel of each other’s skin, honing in to noises that meant a certain action should be repeated. This was one of those times. Luschek moved all of her hair to one side so he could gnaw and plant open mouthed kisses on her neck while Nicky let her head loll over his shoulder and her lips hang open so any words devolved into breathy moans of gratification.

It felt so fucking good.

At one point, in all the grinding and arching and wanting, Nicky forgot herself and took her other foot off the ground, wrapping both legs around her CO. She wanted him closer, deeper. Joel faltered, stumbling a bit under her weight so that she got slammed back into the wall and he unintentionally thrust into her all the way up to the hilt. They both shouted colorful expletives of pleasure.

“Fuck,” he laughed breathily, looking up at her from beneath a brow shiny with sweat. He had both arms now secure around her back so she wouldn’t fall. “You’re heavy.”

Nichols let out a snort of surprised laughter, barely managing to make a swipe at his face as their new position set her walls to clamping and vibrating in the start of an orgasm. Luschek laughed too, blue eyes falling shut as he felt her response all around him and refocused on pumping in and out. 

That was another thing she had learned about him.

He could laugh during sex.

He could crack a joke while slamming into her that made her laugh til her sides hurt and he could chuckle wickedly at a particularly loud yelp she let out while riding his face. He could still talk shit while talking dirty and even as they gasped out each other’s names, clinging to each other like a couple of cheesy love interests, they could still be just Nicky and Luschek. Apart from the orgasms, of which there were many, that was probably her favorite part. They were still Nicky and Luschek.

And she trusted Luschek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are all now reading a story written by a degree holding, licensed elementary school teacher. Say whaaaaat?


	6. Icarus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re kinda like that guy with the wings.”
> 
> Nicky froze, crouched half way over trying to free herself from the prison of panties. 
> 
> “What?”
> 
> “The guy with the wings,” he went on, for some unknown reason, not meeting her eyes as he too escaped his briefs. “He was super cocky and flew too close to the sun and then ended up fucked when the wax melted or whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usually I proofread these things a million ways to sunday, but Im very sleepy and it's been FOREVER since I updated, so please excuse any mistakes.

Joel Luschek stomped down the crowded hall, annoyed beyond belief that the inmates weren’t bothering to give him extra room to pass. He’d bumped at least 15 people on his way to the rec room and he felt one more may just be the straw that broke the camel’s back. When a tall, full lipped Hispanic looked as if she were about to run straight into him he actually let out a short shout of irritation, alerting her to his presence. She jumped, ombre hair bouncing wildly as she backpedaled out of his way, leaving the doorway to the recreation area wide open.

Inside he spotted the object of his irritation more days than not and whistled sharply to get her attention. Nichols picked her head up like a coked up dog, eyes finding him immediately as her conversation with Morello was cut short. The little maniac beamed at him as if they were old friends and bounced out of her chair, mouth already going a mile a minute even thought Joel barely spared her a glance.

“Good afternoon, Mister Luschek!” Lorna sing-songed, now at his elbow as he moved further into the room. “I hope you’re not coming to steal Nicky away. She is in a foul mood-”

“Morello!”

The wildcat and the electrician frowned at having said the same thing at the same time before Nicky finally stood. She’d been hunched over, elbows on her knees, but now straightened up to saunter over to her boss. He could tell from the way she licked her lips that she thought this was a social visit and was practically giddy to ruin that expectation for her.

“I’ll catch up with you later, kid,” she told Morello who immediately nodded and danced away, patting Luschek’s arm as she went. Nicky had sworn on her most recent sobriety chip that she hadn’t told the little Italian anything about their rendezvous, but had declined to say what she did say to make Lorna so courteous with giving them alone time. He figured that was a topic for another day as Nicky boldly reached out to finger around the edge of his belt. “Rec room’s new,” she murmured, dark eyes playful, “Thought it’d be a little too open for your taste, but-”

“You mind tellin me what the fuck you were thinking?” Joel cut across her before he could actually get drawn into her voice. They’d both realized over the last several weeks that the prison employee had a sort of weakness when it came to the inmate's voice. Much to his humiliation. He had to cut her off before the whole conversation got away from him.

“What?” Nicky cocked her head back like a viper, mouth quirked in what could have been genuine confusion if she weren't, in fact, a viper. Luschek huffed.

“Flirting with Susan,” he clarified, finally bringing his voice down slightly. No one else was in the room, but the door was still wide open. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Realization finally dawned on the woman’s face, followed quickly by annoyed chagrin. She backed up from her CO, arms already folding up and over her chest to guard herself against criticism. She sat once more and looked up at him, still managing to make the position seem superior as she sneered and scoffed and generally made him feel like an asshole for even asking.

“Oh come on, you know I’ve got that thing goin with Boo,” she reasoned. “Fischer is worth 10 points and-”

“And she’s my girlfriend!” the man interrupted, voice raising slightly as he realized this had all been part of the stupid contest the wildcat had going on with the dike. Nichols had explained it in intentionally overly elaborate detail and Luschek had sworn he wouldn’t get jealous or try to cock block her in any way. He’d heard all about the rules and requirements and had even been harangued into suggesting a few targets, but he’d never guessed Nicky would be so stupid as to actually go for a guard. “And a CO!”

“Hence the 10 point rating,” she quipped back, arms still crossed, all his words just bouncing off her fleshy armor. “Sorry to say, but your girlfriend’s not actually much to look at.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind? Do you realize what could’ve happened if Susan had reported you? Or worse! Actually taken the bait!”

“We’d all be Eskimo bros,” Nichols smiled, teeth gleaming, “Ya know, I've been lookin for ways for us to get closer, Joel.”

“STOP DICKING AROUND!”

They both froze, his shout having startled them into silence. Luschek realized for the the first time that his heart was racing a mile a minute and he could feel that his face had gone flush with rage. Nicky’s eyes were wide as saucers as she glanced everywhere but his face, nonchalant slouch now jerked up in a sort of protective hunch. Outside the rec room no one else had heard the outburst over the general din of the rest of the prison, but inside the rec room their ears were ringing with the fact that Joel had just screamed at Nicky. Actually screamed at her. Not just barked or yelped or projected his voice to feign authority over her, but actually screamed.

Nicky shifted awkwardly in her seat, not having been really screamed at in a lot of years and Joel staggered back, not having really screamed at anyone in just as long. They let the silence stretch out for a short time, unused to it not being filled with snappy banter or heated panting and moaning. Since they’d started their little escapade they’d certainly gotten under each other’s skin more, but that was simply because there was now another layer to get under. Not because they had any genuine dislike for each other. In that moment, Nicky wondered for the first time if maybe Joel actually didn’t like her. 

She didn’t like that thought.

“Look,” she said at last, the word barely making it out of the gravely depths of her throat, “I didn’t mean anything personal, I just-”

“I know,” the electrician interrupted. He was doing that thing where he squeezed the area around his eyes as he ground his teeth together. He couldn’t look at her. This felt too much like a lover’s spat. “I know you don’t mean anything about anything it just…wasn’t cool.”

The inmate nodded, lips pursed and eyes downcast as she took his comment about her not meaning anything with a grain of salt. “Yeah...I know that now.”

“Susan’s my girlfriend.”

“I know.”

“And you’re…”

A side-piece.

An inmate.

A junky. 

A mistake.

“...I know.”

“It’s just too risky,” he said at last, daring to glance in her direction. She was blinking up at the television. Judy King at Home. “If she ever caught wind of this, I’d be dead meat.” She chuckled, but it was a hollow noise, unlike even when she was making it to be cruel. “Maybe...find some other guard to seduce?”

It was a weak attempt at levity and he felt like a coward for using, but the seductress decided to show mercy on him and take it. She smiled, sharp and predatory as she cocked her head back at him. And like that the tension in the room eased and he could breathe deeply again. The noise from the hall was finally more than a smothering white noise in the background and Nicky laughed like she did when they were all alone. Something inside his chest unwound.

“I think I can do that,” she conceded, standing again, this time with a suggestive lift of her brow. Joel nodded. They could use a quick go after this shit show. Just to get things back to normal. 

As they moved through the crowded halls of Litchfield, heading for the sanctuary of his workshop, Luschek racked his brain for something to say. When he’d gone into the rec room he had been genuinely upset that Nicky would cross what he thought was a very obvious line. Susan was his coworker for one thing; if Nichols had let slip that she’d managed to get into another guard’s pants around her, he’d have been sniffed out in some sort of pervert man-hunt throughout the prison. Susan was his girlfriend for another thing; Nicky deciding to get that close to his personal life in such a way really didn’t sit right with him. It was like she wanted to be caught.

Still, he felt kind of shitty for yelling at her, if only because it had actually made her shut up for a second. For all his griping, Joel had spent years half-assedly trying to get Nichols to shut her mouth and had been recently pleased to find that the only way to do so was to kiss it. That he’d shut her up in another, far less sexy way, was kind of bumming him out. He woke up every morning and told himself he didn’t want Nicky, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want Nicky happy. Didn’t want Nicky feisty. Didn’t want Nicky Nicky.

“So,” he began, flinching when she shot him a sideways glance, “What’s going on with the bathrooms?”

“Spanish Harlem went to the shitter, literally,” she snickered, arms folded behind her back as she bounced along, not calling attention to herself in a rare show of decorum. “So they moved into The Ghetto and the black girls are not happy about it.”

“Huh,” was all he had to say. He really didn’t give a shit if the bathrooms in this place were spewing rivers of crap everywhere, as long as none got on him. That wasn't his department. “Is your bathroom alright?”

“Of course,” Nichols beamed, eyes disappearing behind her eyeliner as she smiled, “The Suburbs will always be quality real estate.”

He mumbled that that was good news as they continued walking. It was still another three halls before they reached electrical and he couldn’t really imagine fucking her up against a workbench after spending so much time in tense silence. Sure, once they got down to business all that tension would be gone, but then it’d be like they were having...make-up sex.

“So are you winning the competition?”

“What?” Nicky actually pulled up sort at his blurted question, causing Yoga Jones to collide with her back as they both came to a sudden stop. The skinny woman apologized and headed on her way, nose buried in a book. 

“The competition,” he repeated, looking into the thick tresses of her hair instead of into her face as he repeated himself. “Between you and Boo...are you winning?”

If she thought it was weird that he was asking about the competition right after getting mad at her for taking part of it, she made it very obvious. She leaned back, eyes wide as she inhaled deeply through her nose and kept walking. Her hands were fisted at her sides like she wanted to punch something and the CO hoped it wasn’t him. Nicky was no dainty flower, the long scratch marks going down his back could attest to that.

“Nope,” she growled, lower row of teeth sticking out as she hissed. “Boo’s actually giving me a run for my money and, smartass me, I wasted two whole days trying to get your slam piece into bed.”

Another wave of irritation rolled over him as she described actively pursuing Susan, but it wasn’t because of any sort of possessive feelings towards his actual girlfriend. He really didn’t want to think about who these feelings could be for. “Seems a bit out of you depth.”

The inmate barked a laugh so sharp that it actually hurt Joel’s ears and he leaned away. She’d clearly heard this before and as she leaned against the door to electrical, the shop finally having appeared like a beacon in the storm, she fixed him with a fiery look that screamed determination and cockiness so pure he was sure he’d been in for quite the ride once they were behind closed doors. As long as he could keep things from getting any weirder.

“My depth, has no depth,” she bit out, knuckles white on the handle but not letting them enter as she jabbed a finger into his ribs. “I’m a giver, okay? A goddamn bean-flicking Mother Theresa!”

The shop was dark when they got inside; no one had work detail at that time. They left the lights off and Nicky swaggered over to the desk like she belonged there, Luschek trailing behind, already reaching to undo his own belt. She was shimming out of her pants, ready to hop up and spread out when his idiot mouth needed to make one more comment.

“You’re kinda like that guy with the wings.”

Nicky froze, crouched half way over trying to free herself from the prison of panties. She stared up at him, wild hair tumbling over her shoulder in a solid mimic of what it would to be doing when she was finally flung over the desk.

“What?”

“The guy with the wings,” he went on, for some unknown reason, not meeting her eyes as he too escaped his briefs. He felt like he couldn’t stop talking then even though they’d reached their safe place and sex was definitely about to happen. Everything was back to normal. “He was super cocky and flew too close to the sun and then ended up fucked when the wax melted or whatever.”

“Icarus.”

“Gesundheit.”

Nicky just smirked at him, actually making the effort to not look completely evil, her full lips not opening to flash her teeth at him. He appreciated the gesture maybe more than he should and helped her up onto the desk when she motioned him to. He was poised at her entrance, eyes adjusting to the dark as he tried to convince his dick that it was safe to come out of hiding, that she wasn't going to bite this time. She reached up and rested her hands on his shoulders like they belonged there.

“Joel.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about Susan, man.”

He couldn’t see her clearly, just the outline of her hair from where some light was coming in from the window on the door. He couldn’t see her expression or if she was fucking with him, but he could hear the way she sighed like the apology wasn’t particularly pleasant for her to deliver and he appreciated that more than he should too. It had gotten weirder.

“It’s cool.”

And then there was no more talking. Just sliding and moaning and biting and Luschek fucking into the person who he was 100% positive he hated not thirty minutes before. He didn’t go extra rough, or pull on her hair, instead holding her at the back of the neck and on the thigh. She bounced a bit in an effort to quicken the pace, to drive him deeper, but he kept them slightly apart so that it had to stay semi-slow, semi-sweet. Nichols didn’t complain at first. Just rubbed her face against his, skinning it raw against his beard as she clenched and unclenched around him, the delayment of it all driving her slightly mad. When she finally couldn’t take it anymore she yanked back, grabbing him by the collar like a bully on the playground.

“Fuck me like you mean it,” she growled.

That’s when Joel turned her over. That’s when he pushed her face down into the messy stack of papers and took her from behind, one hand reached around to torture her clit. That’s when he took a fist full of her hair and twisted it to painful tightness. That’s when he finally went fast and rough. When she asked him too. 

They were both panting and Nicky was crying and Joel was groaning and when he finally came between her legs he thought the room may actually have been filled with light for a second, suddenly seeing spots all over. He staggered away from the woman he’d been charged with taking care of and slumped into his desk chair, pants still around his ankles. Nichols was still lain out on the desk, a quivering mess of a person and he tried to feel good about that. But he was tired and he was winded and that had felt way too much like make-up sex. Suddenly he didn’t want to see her there at all.

“It’s not cool yet is it?”

Her voice was even rougher than usual and she had rolled onto her back, little hands folded over her belly as she looked up into the darkness. Luschek glanced in her direction briefly, heart starting to slow as he sank down lower in his chair. That she could tell he was still upset just from the way he’d fucked her was something he promised future-Joel would worry about.

“No.”

“Man.”

Nicky’s little plaintive huff sounded genuinely upset, but she didn’t elaborate further as she sat up, back cracking loudly as she went. She hopped off the desk, hair bouncing and odd receipts and other such paper mess sticking to her sweaty body. She brushed it all away, pulling her pants up without fanfare. Joel watched all this without elaborating any further on what he had said.

“I don’t want what we’ve got goin here to stop,” Nicky admitted, not turning to him as she started to comb at her hair with her fingers. It was kinky and damp in some places from being gripped in his hand. She was leaned up against the desk, faced towards the door they had entered from. “But I dunno howta not sleep around.”

“I don’t care about the sleeping around,” he assured before frowning. Disease and infection was still looming on the horizon for all he knew. “At least I don’t think I do. Just...maybe not with people I’m sleeping around with?”

Here she finally turned, having swept the bird’s nest she called hair up into the sloppiest bun he had ever seen. He had to admit it made her neck look longer and her face slimmer and he realized, not for the first time, that Nichols could easily be called attractive if she bothered to give two shits about her appearance. She sniffed at him.

“Fair enough,” she conceded, smacking the edge of the desk as she straightened, looking like she was ready to take her leave. They didn’t usually linger around one another after the deed was done. “I’ll lay off anything it looks like you may wanna sniff at.”

Joel winced because that made it sound like he was sleeping with other people besides Susan and Nicky. Like he was sleeping with even more inmates. But he didn’t feel like having a sudo-fight with Nicky trying to convince her he wasn’t cheating on Susan and her with other Litchfield women when she hadn’t even asked in the first place. In all truth, she probably wouldn’t even care if he was. She was doing it after all. 

He sighed, wishing she was gone already.

“Thanks, Nichols.”

She winked at him, backing out of the shop as she dropped more nonsense about her dumb competition and their dumb predicament and how she’d stay away from his dumb girlfriend. If she apologized once more on her way out, eyelids drooping in a show of sincerity, it really wasn’t necessary. When the door finally shut behind her the electrician remembered that he was still sitting bare ass on his chair and moved to get dressed.

He wasn’t cool with Nicky yet, but he wasn’t about to give up what was quickly becoming the favorite part of his whole damn life just because she’d hurt his feelings a bit. Doing that would make it obvious she’d hurt them to begin with. No. He had to keep sleeping with her to save face. And keep lying to Susan to save his ass. And keep giving himself shitty little pep talks while alone to save his sanity.

When he was dressed properly once more he turned on the light in the shop knowing the afternoon work detail would be arriving soon. He straightened his desk and wiped off a bit of slick from the edge of it with his thumb. Everything was back to normal and he could focus on that rather than the fact that he was starting to feel like he was flying too close to the sun.


End file.
